Political analysts undecided who will become Ukrainian president

Kyiv, January 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Political analysts cannot definitely forecast who has the best chance of winning the second round of Ukraine's presidential election scheduled for February 7.

"We cannot say that either [Viktor Yanukovych or Yulia Tymoshenko] has an unambiguous chance of winning [the presidential run-off vote]," President of the Open Policy Analytical Center Ihor Zhdanov said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

He said that everything would depend on the activity of voters.

"The person who most actively mobilizes his or her voters will become president. This is the No. 1 task," Zhdanov said.

The second task, in his opinion, should be a battle between Yanukovych and Tymoshenko for voters who supported presidential candidates who lost the first round of the election.

Zhdanov said that calls by such candidates to back Tymoshenko or Yanukovych would not have a determining importance, because the supporters of Sergiy Tigipko and Arseniy Yatseniuk would most decide themselves who they will vote for.

"There's currently a fifty-fifty chance that either candidate will win," he said, adding that a several-percent gap would be the most dangerous, as this could result in claims that the election was illegitimate.

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Political Analysis School of the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy Oleksiy Haran also forecast the results of the presidential-run-off vote.

"He [Yanukovych] may have a greater chance of victory, although it's not clear yet," he said.

Haran also agreed with his colleague's opinion that a key task for Tymoshenko and Yanukovych would be the mobilization of voters and a struggle for the supporters of losing candidates.