Where To Go: A Look At Ukraine’s 3 Top Presidential Contenders

[francoba + 93]

Opinion polls before the March 31 vote indicate that no one will come close to the 50-percent support needed to win in the first round. These three appear to have the best chances of making it into the second round three weeks later, each of them bearing vivid qualities.

PETRO POROSHENKO -  the incumbent, came to power in 2014 with the image of a “good oligarch.” The bulk of his fortune came from a seemingly innocuous source, the chocolate-maker Roshen, hence his nickname “The Chocolate King.”

YULIA TYMOSHENKO - has abandoned the elaborate blond hair braid that made her the most recognizable figure of the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, but she’s retained the vivid rhetoric and populist leanings.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY - may be approaching the point where life imitates art. The 41-year-old comic actor’s most famous role is his TV portrayal of a schoolteacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral. Even before he announced his candidacy, Zelenskiy’s name was turning up high in pre-election public opinion polls, with potential voters seemingly encouraged by his “Servant of the People” TV series (which became the name of his party).

https://apnews.com/41b451fd505640199ed9b78086ca9542?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

 

 

[Pavel + 384]

The dictatorship known as Russia will try to stifle any democratic process in the Ukraine elections. Does Putin have a candidate?

[damirUSBiH + 327]

Maybe a better headline: "A comedian and two oligarchs"

[ThunderBlade + 231]

The people need work, not servants. They owe reparations.

[50 shades of black + 254]

Status quo: oligarchs are still in the center of the political game...

[pinto + 293]

Too much thing about Ukraine today is nonsense, but the biggest one is there are about a million internally-displaced people from Donetsk who can’t vote in the upcoming presidential election. Imagine being forced from your home by an invading army and then being told you can’t vote for your next President... 

[Fred czubba + 15]

Lets see who is supported by the people or supported by MOSCOW?

[Oil_Engineer + 86]

On 3/28/2019 at 8:50 AM, francoba said:

Opinion polls before the March 31 vote indicate that no one will come close to the 50-percent support needed to win in the first round. These three appear to have the best chances of making it into the second round three weeks later, each of them bearing vivid qualities.

PETRO POROSHENKO -  the incumbent, came to power in 2014 with the image of a “good oligarch.” The bulk of his fortune came from a seemingly innocuous source, the chocolate-maker Roshen, hence his nickname “The Chocolate King.”

YULIA TYMOSHENKO - has abandoned the elaborate blond hair braid that made her the most recognizable figure of the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, but she’s retained the vivid rhetoric and populist leanings.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY - may be approaching the point where life imitates art. The 41-year-old comic actor’s most famous role is his TV portrayal of a schoolteacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral. Even before he announced his candidacy, Zelenskiy’s name was turning up high in pre-election public opinion polls, with potential voters seemingly encouraged by his “Servant of the People” TV series (which became the name of his party).

https://apnews.com/41b451fd505640199ed9b78086ca9542?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

 

 

Elections are tomorrow. I think Poroshenko will hold in to his job. 

[kommersant + 13]

Some  links

https://news.gallup.com/poll/247976/world-low-ukrainians-confident-government.aspx 9 % confidence in goverment world record low

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/29/ukraines-election-is-a-mess-and-thats-exactly-what-putin-wants-russia-nato-european-union-poroshenko-zelensky-tymoshenko/ 80 % believes election will be rigged

 

West should never back Maidan - final result is new Cold War ans russian-chinese alliance

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

On 3/30/2019 at 10:37 AM, Oil_Engineer said:

Elections are tomorrow. I think Poroshenko will hold in to his job. 

No chance. Poroshenko is getting clobbered.  Although going to a run-off,the comedian VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY is way ahead, although not at the 50% mark yet, so that will force a run-off with Poroshenko.  That said, the ration between the two candidates is two to one for the comedian.  Hey, at least he's honest  (or, has no track record of being some worthless corrupt oligarch).   Yup, these are interesting times for Ukrainians. 

The Putin-stooge candidate got  14% of the vote,  as contrasted with the comedian's plus-30%.  Yup, just like Ronald Reagan.  Nothing like lots of TV exposure!

[Oil_Engineer + 86]

13 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

No chance. Poroshenko is getting clobbered.  Although going to a run-off,the comedian VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY is way ahead, although not at the 50% mark yet, so that will force a run-off with Poroshenko.  That said, the ration between the two candidates is two to one for the comedian.  Hey, at least he's honest  (or, has no track record of being some worthless corrupt oligarch).   Yup, these are interesting times for Ukrainians. 

The Putin-stooge candidate got  14% of the vote,  as contrasted with the comedian's plus-30%.  Yup, just like Ronald Reagan.  Nothing like lots of TV exposure!

The run off will probably split Tymoshenko's votes along the same lines, 2:1.

The next five years should be interesting in Ukraine.

I just hope Poroshenko doesn't give up and close his chocolate factories.  It is he second best thing about vacationing there!

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

2 hours ago, Oil_Engineer said:

The run off will probably split Tymoshenko's votes along the same lines, 2:1.

The next five years should be interesting in Ukraine.

I just hope Poroshenko doesn't give up and close his chocolate factories.  It is he second best thing about vacationing there!

I suspect that Mr. Poroshenko is likely to become an internal advisor to the Comedian President, assuming it develops that way.  Poroshenko has developed very valuable contacts in the West which will need to be tapped into, and I rather doubt his personality grants the luxury of retiring from the public eye.  Yes, there is this taint of the aura of corruption, but that seems to be a common enough problem in Ukraine.  But the Country has serious issues to deal with, some of which relate to the Russians and their commandos and the Wagner Brigade, some related to the Russians building the twin bridges across the Kerch Strait, and the Russian starvation of the Port of Mariupol - the solution to which seems to be to dig a canal transverse across the isthmus of Crimea, to allow ship passage to the port without having to deal with Russian interference. My guess is that that canal will be built (and armored, as a resistance point to yet further Russian land-grabbing). 

The independence of Ukraine is very much in the balance.  The best thing we as outsiders can do is to make conscious decisions to purchase Ukrainian products.  Among those are the Antonov line of heavy aircraft and the Jet and reciprocating aircraft engines from  Motor Sich.  Plus the West can send sea-freight currently routed into Poland via the port of Trieste, instead via the port of Odessa; then Ukraine picks up transit fees. And of course a concerted effort to ship in large quantities of LNG, again via the Port of Odessa.  Although it is my personal belief that the West (NATO countries) should station several divisions of heavy armor in Ukraine, including at the city of Kharkov which is threatened by two divisions of Russian armor only 30 miles away at the Border, I hesitate to bring that up as it becomes an issue of military tactics and politics outside the scope of Oilprice.   We shall see how it all unfolds.