Tymoshenko still enjoys wide lead in presidential race, poll says

Former PM Yulia Tymoshenko still enjoys a wide lead in
the Ukrainian presidential election campaign, according to the latest poll
released on Sept. 26. About 19.3% of voters are ready to cast their ballot for
Tymoshenko, compared to 11.9% for President Poroshenko and 11.8% for comedian
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to the Kyiv International Institute for
Sociology. Meanwhile, eight parties would qualify for parliament if elections
were held now. About 64.3% of voters support pro-Western parties, while 19.4%
support Russian-oriented parties. The poll was conducted between Sept. 8 and 23
of 2,026 respondents.

Zenon Zawada: Two polls
this month indicated that Tymoshenko has lost her lead,
but this poll – which we consider to be reliable – indicates that is far from
reality. As we’ve said, the Poroshenko campaign will need to attack Tymoshenko
in the mass media effectively enough to reduce her lead and make his possible
election victory convincing, whether in the first or second round. We expect
Tymoshenko and Poroshenko will qualify for the second-round runoff of the
presidential election.