Only a few percentage points separate the potential front-runners in next March’s presidential election in Ukraine, according to the latest opinion polls, published on June 5.
Lawmaker Yulia Tymoshenko leads the pack, with 13.3 percent of respondents supporting her, according to the poll, which was conducted for the think tanks Razumkov Centre and Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
Second to Tymoshenko is the politician and former Defense Minister Anatoliy Grytsenko, at 9.4 percent. The pro-Russian Opposition Bloc leader Yuriy Boyko is third with 8.4 percent, while 7.6 percent supported President Petro Poroshenko. The data only includes responses from those who said they would definitely vote in the election.
Andriy Bychenko from Razumkov Centre said that the result of the actual election would be different, as the list of candidates is not yet known. However, he said some regional trends were already clear.
“In the east, we have a situation that is coming back to the one before the Revolution of Dignity,” Bychenko said, referring to the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014. He said voters in the east give more support to Boyko and Vadim Rabinovich than those in the west of the country.
Sociologist Iryna Bekeshkina said that the results of the elections would depend on the economic situation in the country when the elections are held, in around 10 months’ time. The majority of better-off respondents support Poroshenko, she said.
And while most respondents (62 percent) said Ukraine needs new political leaders, only about 22 percent could name one, she said.
“The demand (for new leadership) is much higher… than the possibility that this demand can be satisfied,” Bekeshkina said.
The three main qualities voters want to see in new leaders are not being corrupt, not giving empty political promises, and wanting to protect the interests of ordinary people.
“I call it a yearning for decency,” Bekeshkina said.
