Poroshenko favored to win elections in Ukraine, says he will negotiate with Russia

WashPost ^ | 5-23-2014 | Michael Birnbaum

[tcrlaf]

As Ukraine heads to the polls Sunday, one man is a strong favorite to win: candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko, who has vaulted to the top of his nation’s political scene on the hope that he can unite a deeply divided electorate.

Ukraine was already suffering from economic troubles when pro-Western street protests forced Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country Feb. 22. Soon thereafter, Russian ­forces ­seized the Crimean Peninsula. And as an insurgency has grown in Ukraine’s east, the question ahead of the election was less about the eventual winner and more about what challenges the new president will face in the coming months.

Opinion polls released in recent days show that the businessman has a shot at capturing more than 50 percent of the vote in a crowded field of 20 candidates, avoiding a June 15 runoff. But even in a runoff, his main challenger, Yulia Tymoshenko, lags behind him in most polls.

Poroshenko, 48, a former foreign and economics minister, is a savvy veteran of Ukraine’s political scene, adept at working with both pro-Russian and pro-Western leaders. Once an ally of Yanukovych, he was the first member of Ukraine’s powerful oligarchs to cast his lot with the pro-Western protesters who took to Kiev’s main square, the Maidan, in November to demand more political freedoms and that the country align itself with the European Union.

[tcrlaf]

The REAL question the Washington Post should be asking is:

Will RightSector/Svoboda give up power willingly if Poroshenko wins the election, especially after announcing that he will negotiate with Russia?

[Jonty30]

What would there be to negotiate, how much Russia will rule?