Page 8 - UKRRptMar19

(KIIS) on February 8-20, one of the most trusted of the various pollsters.
A quarter (26.4%) of respondents who will vote in the presidential election are planning to support Zelenskiy, and another 18% will vote for Poroshenko. Only 13.8% of Ukrainians are ready to vote for ex-PM and Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Of the total number of those polled, 8.3% would not vote in the election, 30.5% were undecided regarding their vote, and 4.4% would scratch out all the candidates or spoil their ballot.
The KIIS polled 2,042 people in 110 populated localities throughout all regions of Ukraine, excluding Crimea and the rebel-held areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, by means of face-to-face interviews.
Some other recent surveys confirm the fact that Tymoshenko is loosing public support ahead of the March presidential elections. Specifically, according to February's poll conducted by Kyiv-based Razumkov Center, 17.5% among all respondents plan to vote for Volodymyr Zelenskiy (19% among those who intend to take part in elections), 13.1% (and 16.8%) - for Poroshenko, and only 11.5% (and 13.8%) - for Tymoshenko.
On February 22, Tymoshenko accused Poroshenko of allegedly attempting to bribe voters using state budget funds.
"For the first time in Ukraine's history they have decided to bribe people using state budget funds. [...] They are allocating special subventions from the state budget to local budgets," Interfax news agency quoted Tymoshenko as saying. "Then, according to prearranged lists, they send people an invitation to receive the money at the mayor's office or in the governor's office as financial assistance in the amount of UAH1,000 [$37]."
Tymoshenko called this "bribery with illicit cash." She said agitators allegedly approach people and put their names in databases. Those who have already agreed to vote for Poroshenko first receive UAH500, half payment for their future vote, and are photographed with the money.
2.3 Ukraine’s presidential elections Q&A with Tim Ash
Ukraine goes to the polls in just over a month and currently outsider and comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in a comfortable lead according to the latest polls.
An actor with no experience in government at all, analysts are asking what that will mean for Ukraine’s development if he wins. However, Zelenskiy’s lead is indicative of the wide spread disappointment among voters with all Ukraine’s existing political elite and its manifest failure to deliver on any of the promises for a better life that the Maidan protestors fought, and died, for.
While it seems that Zelenskiy will get through to a second round of voting in April – none of the record 44 candidates has any hope to winning 50% of the votes needed to win in the first round – it is unclear who he will meet.
The other two leading candidates are incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and opposition leader, former Prime Minister and head of Batkivshchyna
8 UKRAINE Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com