Prime Minister Yuliya Timoshenko (1960- ), the leading candidate for President in the Ukraine, the foremost land-shark in Ukrainian politics. Cookie the Bookie sez that all punters would be wise to back this particular favourite… I wouldn’t bet against her!
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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko wouldn’t even make the runoff if the Ukraine held a presidential election at the moment, the National Institute for Strategic Studies said on Thursday. The institute’s poll showed Prime Minister Yuliya Timoshenko top with 24.2 percent of respondents saying they would vote for her, followed by opposition Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovich with 20.7 percent. Only 9.7 percent of respondents said they supported Yushchenko. Vladimir Litvin, the leader of his eponymous bloc, received 6.8 percent of the votes, whilst 5.9 percent of those polled backed Parliamentary Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk, and 4 percent supported Communist leader Pyotr Simonenko. As many as 5 percent of respondents said they would vote against all the candidates, 7 percent said they wouldn’t vote at all, whilst 13 percent hadn’t made up their minds. The survey was conducted on 20-24 October, and involved a sample of 2,013 respondents. The margin of error was 2.3 percent. The data provided by the National Institute for Strategic Studies, which is considered an advisory research body assisting the president and government, is somewhat different from earlier published poll results, which gave the president no more than 5 percent backing. Presidential elections in the Ukraine are due to be held in late 2009 or early 2010, depending on parliament’s decision.
30 October 2008
RIA-Novosti
