Two old faces both oligarchs front-runners for Ukraine presidency
Ukrainian oligarch Petro Poroshenko was one of the early supporters of the Maidan protests along with former boxer and leading Ukrainian politician Vitaly Klitschko.
Klitschko has now decided to throw his support behind Poroshenko. However, he will seek to become mayor of Kyiv in elections to be held on the 25th of May. The main contest for president will be between Yulia Tymoshenko a former prime minister and herself an oligarch and Petro Poroshenko the chocolate king oligarch. Klitschko pulled out of the race after polls showed he was far behind Poroshenko who had 25 per cent of the vote among 15 contenders. Klitschko had less than nine per cent of the vote but even this put him second ahead of Tymoshenko
Klitschko said:”The only chance of winning is to nominate one candidate from the democratic forces,” He urged the contender with the highest chances of winning be chosen as candidate and then argued that Poroshenko was the person with the best chance of winning. He noted that both he and Poroshenko had been at the main protester camp on Maidan Square.
While in contrast to some other Ukrainian oligarchs Poroshenko is not that rich he is still a billionaire according to Forbes. As of 2008 Ukraine’s wealthiest 50 oligarchs accounted for 85 per cent of the GDP. Poroshenko owns the largest confectionery company in the Ukraine but he has diversified into car and bus plants, a shipyard, and a television channel. Oligarchs who supported the former president Yanukovych played a key role in the overthrow of the president. As this Der Spiegel article points out the two largest oligarch supporters had made contingency plans for his overthrow and ditched him giving the parliament the power to form a coalition government and impeach Yanukovych. Remi Piet in Al Jazeera even argues that Yanukovych fled not because of the Maidan demonstrations but because key oligarchs abandoned him .
A key oligarch who dumped Yanukovych was Rinat Akhmetov one of the 40th wealthiest men in the world. As with many of the oligarchs Akhmetov already has connections to the west including real estate: Akhmetov owns London’s most expensive penthouse at One Hyde Park, which was originally purchased for a reported $213 million as a portfolio investment and spent another reported $120 million to fix them up.[68] ..In May 2013, the property was transferred from his company, SCM, to himself.[72]
Oligarchs have been appointed to key hot spots in the eastern Ukraine as governors. As the New York Times reported: The office of President Oleksandr V. Turchynov announced on Sunday the appointments of two billionaires — Sergei Taruta in Donetsk and Ihor Kolomoysky in Dnipropetrovsk — and more were reportedly under consideration for positions in the eastern regions.
Because of his views and past experience Poroshenko will be seen in the west as an excellent choice by the Ukraine. He is well versed in financial affairs as he was head of the Council of Ukraine’s National Bank from February of 2007 until March 2012. He was appointed as development and trade minister by Yanukovych just after he stepped down from his role at the Central Bank. Added to these qualifications for dealing with the IMF and other lenders he supports the Ukraine joining NATO saying in 2009: “I believe that with a political will and a public wish to do so, public support for politicians in charge, and a clear and right awareness policy, becoming a NATO member could be accomplished within a year or two”.
The same elite of oligarchs is still firmly in control in the Ukraine and they will not be averse to again seeking help from the IMF and other international lenders. Only this time they are ready to enforce the conditions imposed by outside lenders although the worst measures may take place after the May election.. This may end up in a second round in Maidan Square.
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