Analysts: Poroshenko as candidate for Kyiv mayor can satisfy both government and opposition
Kyiv, January 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The candidacy of Petro Poroshenko as a candidate for Kyiv mayor could satisfy both the opposition and the government, experts have said.
"Poroshenko, in fact, has currently completed successful negotiations with Batkivschyna… There is allegedly the preliminary consent of UDAR and some hesitation from Svoboda… Under the current opposition rhetoric, he could paradoxically be an agreed candidate between the opposition and the authorities. Such scenarios also exist," Director of the Berta Communications Company for Personal and Strategic Consulting Taras Berezovets said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
"It's quite a serious challenge, which may indicate that his [Poroshenko's] chances of becoming a turncoat are at least the smallest among those people who are being considered by the government and the opposition," an analyst and director of the International Institute for Democracy, Serhiy Taran, said.
Berezovets also said he was confident that the mayoral election and the elections to Kyiv City Council would be held this year – on May 26 and June 2.
"February is the last month in which the date for these elections can be set [by the Verkhovna Rada]," the analyst said.
At the same time, in his opinion, the government has already decided on its candidate for the post of Kyiv mayor.
"Today there is complete certainty that the government will nominate incumbent Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov. They were looking for an alternative to him... but there are no other candidates," Berezovets said.
He also said that in addition to the date of the elections, parliament could return to consideration of the question of the system of holding elections to Kyiv City Council and changing the current system from proportional to mixed.
Poroshenko, born in 1965, headed the National Bank of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, served as foreign minister, minister of economic development and trade and ran as a self-nominee in the parliamentary elections in 2012 in single-mandate constituency No. 12 in Vinnytsia region. He is currently an independent lawmaker.