The current president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and all his associates will be accountable before the law for making money on their own army during the war and for their tariff policy, Batkivschyna Party leader and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has said.
“We’ll need to arrest anyone who has even taken a penny from the army,” Tymoshenko said during a rally in the town of Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, announcing her first steps after winning the presidential election.
Tymoshenko referred to a recently published journalistic investigation, “which exposed the corruption of the president and his entourage on supplies from the aggressor country of unsuitable spare parts for Ukrainian military equipment at inflated prices,” the Batkivschyna official website said on Sunday.
Tymoshenko noted that the authorities would bear responsibility for the “tariff orgy” organized during his tenure. She said the illegal increase in gas prices for the population was another source of enrichment at the expense of people, and recalled that Kyiv’s District Administrative Court recently declared that the tariffs were set unreasonably.
The presidential candidate said her coming to power would put an end to the corrupt life of the oligarchic system, which only changed its face in every election. “We will not agree with them, because everyone who agrees hurts the future for Ukraine,” she said.
According to the politician, the first thing she will do as president is “fulfill the commitment that President Poroshenko took during his inauguration: “I will imprison three of his friends for corruption. ….But three friends is not enough,” he said.
According to her, the new government will remove the controlling agencies from the influence of the president in order to stop corruption and oligarchy in the country. According to Tymoshenko, a new Constitution will be adopted after holding a nationwide referendum.
Batkivschyna Party leader Yuliya Tymoshenko and Opposition Platform – For Life head Yuriy Boyko are the favorites among possible presidential candidates in Zaporizhia region, supported by 22.0% and 18.3% of the region’s residents who participated in a Sociological Group Rating survey. The poll was carried out from November 16 to December 2, 2018. Some 1,600 residents of the region were interviewed. The sample was formed taking into account the age and gender structure of the region, as well as the type of settlement. The margin of error of the survey does not exceed 2.4%.
Showman and Servant of the People Party leader Volodymyr Zelensky was supported by 14.1% respondents, followed by incumbent President Petro Poroshenko – 8.4%, Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko – 7.5% and Ours Party leader Yevhen Murayev. Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko was supported by 5.1% of persons who participated in the survey.
BOYKO, CANDIDATES, LEAD, POROSHENKO, PRESIDENTIAL, TYMOSHENKO, ZAPORIZHIA REGION
Ukrainians do not see obvious leaders among candidates for the post of Ukraine’s president, and the rating of major politicians is rather low, according to a nationwide poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in May 2018. According to the results of the survey that were made public at a press conference in Kyiv, Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko (13.3%) has greatest support among the respondents who plan to take part in the elections, while the level of her support differs little depending on the regions. Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko (9.4% of respondents) is in second place, enjoying the highest rating in the western and central regions of the country. A co-chairman of the Opposition Bloc faction, Yuriy Boiko (8.4%), is in third place, and he is mostly supported in the eastern, southern regions and Donbas.
The rating of incumbent head of state Petro Poroshenko is somewhat higher in the west of the country and lower in the east and stands at 7.6%. Some 7.4% of respondents would vote for Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko. His positions, according to the survey, are somewhat stronger in the central and southern regions of Ukraine.
According to the survey, the majority of Ukrainian citizens (68%) plan to take part in presidential elections, while 17% definitely do not want to do it, and the rest were undecided.
The survey was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from May 19 to May 25, 2018 in all regions of Ukraine, except for Crimea and occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A total of 2,019 respondents aged over 18 years were interviewed. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 2.3%.