Ukrainian President Poroshenko to aim for MP status if not reelected as president
If Ukraine’s current president Petro Poroshenko does not win a second term in the upcoming presidential elections, he will rename his party and focus on being elected into Ukraine’s parliament, Ukrayinska Pravda reports, citing sources in Poroshenko’s close circle.
If Poroshenko loses, the presidential electoral campaign will “automatically transition” into a parliamentary campaign, explained one of the sources who had participated in an election meeting with Poroshenko. According to the sources, the worst case scenario that is being considered is for Poroshenko to lose during the first round of presidential elections.
Without citing any specific source, Ukrayinska Pravda states that if Poroshenko loses the elections, his party, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity”, will remove the direct reference to him from its name, leaving just “Solidarity”. If he succeeds in parliamentary elections, he will offer the first number of his party’s list to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
Poroshenko’s team also expects that he will be joined by Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy and National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov. He also plans to keep hold of Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR group.
As of 25 March, the actor Volodymyr Zelensky was the most popular presidential candidate, favored by 32.1% of respondents. Next in popularity are Poroshenko (17.1%), the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union “Fatherland” party Yulia Tymoshenko (12.5%), and the leader of the Opposition Platform – For Life party Yuriy Boyko (10.4%).