16:35 20.05.2014

Poroshenko leads in 'European President' survey

2 min read
Poroshenko leads in 'European President' survey

Ukraine's presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko leads the pack in the "European President" survey, according to political scientists.

The results of this study were presented by the Institute of World Policies on Monday.

According to the poll, 70 out of 80 surveyed experts included Poroshenko in the list of three people worthy of the title of "European president," with 54 of the respondents putting him in first place.

Besides, Poroshenko turned out to lead in all the nominations except one regarding honest elections, in which he came third after Anatoliy Hrytsenko and Olha Bohomolets.

Overall Poroshenko gained 10.83 points; Hrytsenko is in second place (with 7.76 points); Bohomolets – in third place (5.14); and Yulia Tymoshenko – in fourth place (4.05).

Experts are said Tymoshenko was using black PR tricks. They also believe that her "way of thinking, political culture and behavior" aren't European. Another disadvantage turned out to be her not knowing European languages, which according to the experts considerably limits the politician's capabilities on European arena and lowers the effectiveness of international negotiations. However, her advantages included experience and a professional election program.

Bohomolets was considered the most inexperienced in the European integration issue. The last place in the rating was given to Petro Symonenko (-4.79), while Mykhailo Dobkin wasn't much better (-4.24).

One of the project's authors, Serhiy Sydorenko, noted that during this election campaign Symonenko "decreased pro-Russian sentiments" in his campaign.

"Apparently, even Petro Symonenko now sees that pro-Russian public orientation stopped being effective in election even for such a candidate as the Communist party leader," he said.

In addition, according to Sydorenko, candidate Sergiy Tigipko's direction is "a little higher than neutral in the direction of European [standards], but he is 'on the border' and thus not a pro-European politician."

The eight most popular candidates among the 23 registered by the Central Election Commission were chosen for the study. As of the beginning of the project, they had a chance of overcoming the so-called psychological barrier of 4% according to polls.

The project was realized with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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