KIEV, January 17. / TASS /. The Poroshenko regime does not have any candidate who can win the forthcoming presidential elections in Ukraine, said the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Management of Policy, Ruslan Bortnik.

"The ruling party does not have a candidate who could win the election," Bortnik wrote on Facebook on Thursday describing this fact "one of the key crises of 2019".

The expert pointed to the strained relations between the two main political forces, which hold a majority in Ukraine’s Rada, and their leaders. "Tension and bargaining carry on between politicians and oligarchs. Despite the coalition, there is obviously some friction between the Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc and the People’s Front," he noted.

The expert also drew attention to the very low rating of incumbent President Poroshenko. "These are the paradoxes of our politics. Yanukovych, at the time he was ousted, enjoyed a rating that was three times higher than the current rating of Poroshenko, who wants to be re-elected for a second term," he explained.

Ukraine’s presidential elections are scheduled for March 31. According to surveys, Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the Fatherland Party, has the best chances of becoming the new head of state. Next comes comedian Vladimir Zelensky and, according to various sources, either the leader of the Civil Position party, Anatoly Gritsenko, or the head of the Opposition Platform - For Life, Yuriy Boyko. Poroshenko ranks only fifth among the potential presidential contenders, slightly behind the leader of the Radical Party, Oleg Lyashko.