The Presidential Field Widens

In recent weeks, two more names have been added to the list of those vying for Ukraine’s top job. The number of candidates stands now at 24, with a couple more people still expected to put themselves forward yet. The problem with such a large playing field is that votes are going to be very diluted. In Ukraine’s system, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the total vote in the first round, there’s a second round run-off between the two highest placed candidates from the first vote, which means it can be a bit of a crap shoot.

The two latest candidates are interesting. One nationally known name is Andriy Sadovy, the current Mayor of Lviv and leader of the Samopomich (Self Reliance) party. People who are familiar with his work in Lviv speak highly of him, but questions still surround his seemingly bizarre ejection of well-liked Sergiy Gusovsky (Gusovsky had led the Samopomich faction in Kyiv’s city administration). The second candidate is Frenchman turned Ukrainian Michel Tereshchenko. Tereshchenko hails from a long line of distinguished figures in Kyiv. He returned to the land of his ancestors over a decade ago and since becoming a Ukrainian citizen has fought and won a mayoral election in Khlukhiv in eastern Ukraine.