Only 24 out of 46 contenders can run for Ukrainian presidency – Central Election Commission
(Interfax – March 31, 2014) The Ukrainian Central Election Commission has completed the process of accepting documents from people willing to run for the country’s president.
Full package of documents was filed by 24 contenders, seven of them have already been registered as candidates by the Commission, the CEC spokesperson said.
In all, 46 Ukrainians, including 38 independents, and eight political party nominees, have announced their intention to run for presidential office. Twelve of them have been denied registration, seven registered as candidates, a decision on the other 27 is due before April 4.
Those already registered include: former first deputy prosecutor general Renat Kuzmin, former deputy prime minister Yuriy Boyko, people’s deputy Serhiy Tihipko (Party of Regions), former head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Mykhailo Dobkin, head of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress Vadim Rabinovich, former people’s deputy Valeriy Konovalyuk and Kyiv businessman Volodymyr Saranov.
All of them have registered as independents, but after his nomination Dobkin was also backed by a Party of Regions congress.
The CEC has yet to consider documents from another 27 contenders, but only 17 of them have filed a full package, including the confirmation of a 2.5-million hryvni ($226,000) deposit.
The eight congress-nominated contenders, who have filed a full package, are the following party leaders: Yulia Tymoshenko of Batkivshchyna, Oleh Tiahnybok of Svoboda, Petro Symonenko of the Communist Party, Anatoliy Hrytsenko of the Civil Position, Oleksandr Klymenko of the Ukrainian People’s Party, Vasyl Kuybida of the People’s Movement of Ukraine, Oleh Lyashko of the Radical Party, and electrician Darth Vader, a representative of the Internet Party of Ukraine.
The following nine independents have also filed full packages: famous Ukrainian businessman Petro Poroshenko, Party of Regions’ people’s deputy Oleh Tsariov, former chief of the External Intelligence Service Mykola Malomuzh, former social policy minister Natalia Korolevska, former chief of the Ukrainian Anti-Monopoly Committee Vasyl Tsushko, Maidan activists Olga Bogomolets and Zoryan Shkiriak, Right Sector Party leader Dmytro Yarosh and Kharkiv businessman Andriy Hrynenko.
The deadline for registration of presidential candidates is April 4. The presidential election is due on May 25.
