After Georgia, Tymoshenko will increase her rating in Eastern Ukraine by 5-6%, Oleksandr Holub predicts

August20200820:14

Holub says Tymoshenko’s war chest is large enough – that is why it is absurd to speak about any Russian project vis-а-vis Tymoshenko. He called the recent biting statement by the presidential secretariat as a forerunner of campaign battles ahead. “The low level and absurdity of these statements shows that the presidential secretariat is in panic because it cannot boost the incumbent’s approval ratings. It is an agony of Yushchenko’s team that frantically wants to save the situation,” Oleksandr Holub adds.

According to Holub, Tymoshenko is a highly populist politician, targeted at the interests of the majority of Ukrainian voters.

Russia’s impact on the last presidential election was minimal. There is no point for Russia to back any candidate as there are no guarantees that the candidate will keep his word when president. Any candidate for president, Holub says, must heed the Russian factor anyway.

Commenting on Hanna Herman’s opinion that Communists have become BYUT’s best friend and ally after their refusal to vote for the dismissal of the Tymoshenko cabinet in June, Holub explained that the Communists were guided only by their pragmatic interests: “Had we voted for the cabinet dismissal, the Communists, PR and Lytvyn bloc would have been left without an opportunity to create a majority and a new cabinet. Under the circumstances, it would have given more muscle to the president while VR without a majority would have been on the brink of dissolution.”

Aug. 18, deputy head of the presidential administration Andry Kyslynsky said he has information that Moscow is considering throwing its weight behind Yulia Tymoshenko in the next presidential election in Ukraine – in exchange for her neutral stance in the military conflict in S Ossetia.