KIEV, March 26. /TASS/. Incumbent Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko will try to grab a seat in parliament this coming autumn if he loses the presidential race, head of the Third Sector analytical center Andrei Zolotarev told TASS on Tuesday.
"If Poroshenko fails to get re-elected, he will try to stay in politics. However, it will all depend on how the elections turn out. If the going gets tough and he is trapped, then there might be only one viable option for him and that is to flee the country," he specified.
If Poroshenko should lose the presidential race, his political career might have some options open, Zolotarev continued. According to the expert, the most favorable alternative is if Poroshenko is defeated by Vladimir Zelensky in the election run-off. "Then he will try to secure his seat in the parliament as a member of the Pyotr Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity" party, leaving out the first three words." "But a more realistic approach for him is to try and get elected to the parliament from his native Vinnitsa by way of a victory in a single-mandate district," Zolotarev clarified. In this case, his party might well cease to exist. "As soon as a ruling party loses access to power itself, it crumbles. In Ukraine, a ruling party is a temporary cooperative group siphoning off budget funds that scatters as soon as the well runs dry," the expert said.
The worst case scenario for Poroshenko’s political career is Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party leader Yulia Timoshenko coming to power. "Timoshenko realizes that she has no platform to boost her ratings except for prosecuting the previous authorities. Therefore, Poroshenko might not only lose the elections, but his freedom as well," Zolotarev concluded.
Thirty-nine candidates will battle it out for the presidency in the Ukrainian elections scheduled for March 31. According to the latest polls, Vladimir Zelensky is in the lead, with incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko and leader of the Batkivshchina party Yulia Timoshenko sharing second and third places.