The motley pack of presidential candidates in Ukraine has now been joined by the famous investigative reporter Dmytro Gnap, who said in a post on Facebook on Feb. 2 he had crowdfunded the Hr 2.5 million ($90,000) deposit needed to register as a presidential candidate.
After initially complaining that PrivatBank, a state-owned bank, had delayed his money transfer to the Central Election Commission, Gnap said in a post on Facebook on Feb. 3 that the money had got through and his registration by the commission was now going ahead.
Candidates have until Feb. 3 to register, and the commission must make a decision on whether to register the candidate within five days of receiving their application, meaning the final list of candidates might not be known until Feb. 8. The first round of voting is on March 31.
Speaking during an improvised press conference at the Central Election Commission, Gnap thanked those who had helped raise the money for his deposit.
“This happened thanks to thousands of Ukrainian citizens, who believe that politics can be honest, and that politicians can be responsible,” Gnap said.
“If you as a citizen pay the politicians (to run a campaign) that means that they will work just for you. If parties pay them, then – understandably – the politicians work for them.”
Gnap, who was nominated by the Syla Lyudey (Power of the People) party is one of 36 potential candidates for president – 28 have already been registered, and another eight, including Gnap and incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, have declared that they will run.Gnap, a graduate of philosophy department at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, is known for his work as a journalist and for being a co-founder of Hromadske TV. He has also won acclaim for his work on the investigative reporting program Slidstvo.Info.
Gnap was involved in local politics from 2001-2007 as a member of the Nasha Ukraina party branch in Donetsk region. He then built up a strong reputation as a reporter, but has now decided to return to politics at the national scale.
Gnap was involved in local politics from 2001-2007 as a member of the Nasha Ukraina party branch in Donetsk region. He then built up a strong reputation as a reporter, but has now decided to return to politics at the national scale.
If Gnap and other declared candidates, such as Poroshenko, are registered by the Central Election Commission, the 2019 presidential election candidate field will be the largest since 2004, when there were 24 candidates in the first round of voting.
Another eight candidates have already been refused registration, including the Communist Party candidate Petro Symonenko, who was denied his candidacy on Feb. 2.
