Tymoshenko presents election campaign platform, leads polls

Yulia Tymoshenko,
the leader of the populist Fatherland party, presented this morning her
election campaign platform, “Ukraine’s New Course: New Possibilities for
Everyone,” at an all-Ukrainian forum attended by thousands of party members and
various leaders of civil society. The program calls for the nation’s
intellectual elite and creative class to participate directly in determining
the nation’s new future course and adopting new approaches to its problems. She
directly referred to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program
launched in 1933 as an example of the government overhaul she intends to
pursue.

Tymoshenko remains
the leading contender in the March 2019 presidential elections with 13.3%
support, compared to 9.4% for former Defense Minister Anatoliy Grytsenko, 8.4%
for the Russian-oriented Yuriy Boyko and 7.6% for Ukrainian President
Poroshenko, according to a poll of 2,019 respondents conducted by the Kucheriv
Democratic Initiatives Fund and Razumkov Center think tanks between May 19 and
25.

Tymoshenko’s
Fatherland party has the most support in the October 2019 parliamentary
elections at 12.6%, compared to 10.7% for Grytsenko’s Civic Platform party,
8.5% for the Russian-oriented Opposition Bloc, 8.1% for the Russian-oriented
For Life party, 7.9% for Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party and 7.8% for Poroshenko’s
Solidarity party.

Zenon Zawada: Tymoshenko’s poll ratings have
consistently improved, particularly at the expense of President Poroshenko.
Grytsenko’s ratings also have consistently improved. In our view, she needs a
stronger lead ahead of her rivals going into the elections to prevent being the
victim of vote falsification.

To expand her
support base, campaign leaders said Tymoshenko will aim to expand her appeal
beyond the poor and pensioners to young professionals and creative class
members (age 30-35) by calling for their involvement in adopting new approaches
in government and business and creating new opportunities.

Given that no other
candidate has appealed to this electorate (and might not even be capable of
doing so), Tymoshenko might have a shot at appealing to these younger voters.
But so far, her image is largely associated with the post-Soviet generation of
oligarchs that ruined the country. And it’s worth noting that Tymoshenko has
previously tried to unravel similar programs (the Ukrainian Breakthrough of
2007) that went nowhere.