Ukrainian president would lose presidential vote if held today, poll says

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych would lose in a second-round runoff of the 2015 presidential election involving the top two opposition leaders, Vitali Klitshcko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Kyiv’s Razumkov Center said in a poll released on October 14. Yanukovych would earn 25% against Klitschko’s 38 percent, and he would earn 26 percent against Yatsenyuk’s 33 percent of support. Yanukovych would earn a first round vote, with the support of 24 percent of those prepared to vote, compared to Klitshko’s 19 percent and Yatsenyuk’s 7 percent. The poll was conducted between September 30 and October 8 of 2,010 respondents. The Razumkov Center is financed by Western grants.

Zenon Zawada: We believe there’s little Yanukovych can do to improve his popularity in the year and four months left until the election. Populist measures involving state social payments would require a higher budget deficit in 2014, which will endanger the signing of an IMF deal and the stability the of Ukrainian currency, Yanukovych’s main economic achievement during his first presidential term. So to win the election, Yanukovych might have to avoid a second-round vote, which might be canceled by the parliament.