Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv and the leader of the Samopomich party, on March 1 withdrew his candidacy for president in favor of Anatoliy Grytsenko, the leader of Civil Position party.
“Right now we have a chance. In unity there is strength,” Sadovyi said at a briefing with his wife by his side.
The possibility of Sadovyi and Grytsenko joining forces in order for there to be a single candidate from the democratic opposition was on the table long before the presidential campaign started. In January, Sadovyi said he was considering uniting the Samopomich and Civil Position parties for the parliamentary elections, along with the smaller democratic parties DemAlliance and Syla Lyudey. One month before the March 31 vote, Sadovyi announced he supports Grytsenko for the presidency.
Grytsenko welcomed Sadovyi’s decision and thanked him.
“It’s a tough decision but it’s an honest and responsible one,” Grytsenko wrote on Facebook. “It’s a victorious decision. Together we will change the country and give Ukrainians a positive perspective.”
Grytsenko, who was leading in presidential polls in the summer of 2018, today polls fourth or fifth, depending on the survey. The latest poll, published on Feb. 25 by Kyiv International Sociology Institute, ranked Grytsenko fifth – he was supported by 6.4 percent of those who had decided on their candidate. Sadovyi ranked seventh with 4 percent of support in one poll and 10th with 2.4 percent in the other.
Anatoliy Grytsenko, a presidential candidate from the Civil Position party, shows his certificate of registration as a presidential candidate on Jan. 17 in Kyiv. (UNIAN)
Ahead of Grytsenko were actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy (26.4 percent), President Petro Poroshenko (18 percent), ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (13.8 percent), and Yuriy Boyko (10.9 percent), a candidate from the pro-Russian opposition.
In another recent poll, published by the Social Monitoring Center on Feb. 27, 15.6 percent of respondents said they would support Grytsenko if he was a single candidate from the democratic opposition.
Hours after Sadovyi’s announcement, another candidate, former journalist Dmytro Gnap, said he would withdraw his candidacy in favor of Grytsenko, too. Upon entering the campaign, Gnap said that he would withdraw if there was a single candidate from the democratic opposition. Gnap polled below 1 percent.
While Sadovyi dropped out of the election race, he said his party Samopomich will run for parliament in October 2019. Currently, Samopomich has 25 seats in parliament.
“Today Samopomich is the platform that must unite all the democratic forces. Our goal is to win the parliamentary elections and elections to local governments, but right now we have a chance to choose a Ukrainian and anti-corruption president,” Sadovyi said in his latest statement.
Ukrainian media earlier reported that Sadovyi was ready to drop out of the presidential race in exchange for Grytsenko’s Civil Position party joining forces with him in the parliament race in autumn, running together under the Samopomich brand. But on March 1 Sadovyi said his endorsement of Grytsenko came without conditions.
“This is not common in Ukrainian politics,” he said.
Still, there is an agreement is to be signed, he said.
“Early next week we will sign a public agreement with important principles: principles concerning the defense of our country, principles of combating corruption, principles around the occupied territory, and the clarity of personnel policy,” Sadovyi said.
Sadovyi’s announcement comes after a week of political turmoil. On Feb. 26 the Constitutional Court nixed a law against illegal enrichment, ending 65 corruption investigations. On Feb. 25, Nashi Groshi journalists revealed that a son of a top ally of Poroshenko allegedly played a leading role in a scheme that embezzled millions of dollars from state defense enterprises.
With Sadovyi and Gnap out, 42 candidates for the presidency are left in the race. Before March 7, any of them can drop out and take back their registration fee of Hr 2.5 million.
