Klitschko pulls out of election race

DPA/Reuters/KievUkrainian politician Vitali Klitschko, a former boxer who is well-regarded in western Europe, said yesterday that he is dropping out of the presidential campaign and swinging behind a unity candidate.Klitschko was one of the stalwarts of street protests that brought down Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February.His decision increases the chances that a new face rather than an old-guard politician will win the presidency.He said he would throw his support behind Pyotr Poroshenko, a businessman who helped to finance the pro-European Union protests and is ahead in the polls for the presidential election set for May 25.The other major candidate, Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister was formally nominated yesterday by her party, the Fatherland Party.Ukraine is currently being run by an interim government that is deeply hostile to Russia.Its next president faces the challenge of knitting together the anti-Russian and pro-Russian parts of the country.Klitschko appealed for the movement that brought down Yanukovych to rally behind Poroshenko, a pro-western figure, saying: “The only chance of winning is for the democratic groups to nominate a unity candidate.”Polls show Poroshenko, 48, has established a lead over Tymoshenko, who spent two and a half years in jail under Yanukovych.She called yesterday for confrontation, saying: “We must bolster the armed forces to ensure our security.”Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions nominated Mikhail Dobkin, a pro-Russian and former governor of the Kharkiv region in the east.Olga Bogomolez, a doctor, is also seeking the presidency as an independent.Poroshenko is often referred to as the “Chocolate King” because he owns a confectionery company, Roshen, as well as a TV channel.He is believed to have poured funds into the protests on the Maidan, Kiev’s mid-city square, just as he aided the 2004 “Orange Revolution”.Former heavyweight champion Klitschko, who leads his own party, Udar (Punch), said he would instead run for Kiev mayor in a vote on the same day as the presidential poll.“I want to make Kiev into a genuinely European city,” said Klitschko, 42, who lived for many years in Germany.The ex-boxer, who speaks fluent German and has had cameo roles in German movies, met German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the crisis.He is viewed as lacking the mass appeal and rhetorical brilliance to win votes nationwide.Yanukovych fled Ukraine in February after more than three months of street protests sparked by his decision to turn away from an association agreement with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.Poroshenko, 48, confirmed his candidacy late on Friday.Speaking yesterday, Poroshenko said the political forces that brought down Yanukovych must stick together to tackle the huge economic and security challenges facing Ukraine.“I’m convinced it would be a betrayal of Maidan if we were not united,” he told a meeting of Klitschko’s Udar party, Interfax news agency reported. “I’m convinced that today the volume and scale of the challenges facing the state ... demand this kind of unity.”Like Tymoshenko, Poroshenko has promised to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces and protect its borders, which the West fears are still under threat from a possible Russian incursion into Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine.“We need to build a new, efficient and modern Ukrainian army, which will defend the sovereignty and integrity of our country,” Poroshenko said late on Friday as he announced he would run for president.He officially submitted his candidacy to the election authorities in Kiev yesterday.The oligarch, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes at $1.3bn, is an experienced politician, having held several ministerial posts including a brief stint as economy minister under Yanukovych.