KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Opposition political forces will not be able to nominate single candidates for presidential elections in Ukraine, Director of the Institute for Global Strategies Vadym Karasiov has said.

"There were hints of some unification processes in the opposition that represents the south and east of Ukraine. However, we see that during these months there were more internal contradictions than unification processes. Therefore, it is obvious that there will be no [single] candidate from the Opposition Bloc, For Life Party and others," he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday.

According to the political scientist, the "pro-Russian opposition" is counting more on the parliamentary rather than presidential election campaign, because it understands that it will not be able to nominate a strong single candidate.

"Almost the same situation is observed in the pro-Western opposition - opposition forces that represent the western and central regions of Ukraine," he said.

Karasiov noted that in early October, the situation made it possible to predict that Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko could claim a spot in the second round of presidential elections, but his team spent a month on organizational issues.

"Therefore, it is hardly possible to predict with confidence that he will be in the second round," the expert said.

At the same time, he said that the key starting positions of the participants in the presidential election campaign had been determined over the past month.

"The starting positions of the main participants in the presidential campaign have stabilized the pool of favorites of this election campaign. So far this is Tymoshenko. There will also be the fight for the second round between the incumbent president and a comedian, possibly already politician, showman Volodymyr Zelensky," he said.

Karasiov, as well as Viktor Nebozhenko, director of the Ukrainian Barometer sociological service, believe that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko will be the most likely participants in the presidential run-off.