
Now that Vitali Klitschko has withdrawn his bid for president in Ukraine, the vote is likely to come down to a race between Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko. But billionaire Petro Poroshenko has the lead - for now.
Klitschko's decision to support billionaire Petro Poroshenko in the presidential election is a "clever decision," said Kyryl Savin of the Green party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation in Kyiv. In the last provisional voter polls, the politically inexperienced Klitschko's hopes were laid bare. "When the next opportunity arises, he'll probably put his hat in the ring for president or prime minister."

Tailwind for Poroshenko
Furthermore, Zalishchuk said, the billionaire has operated relatively transparently in politics. "Last year, he published the names of his employees and the times he was available to speak with citizens. He just didn't publish his side income - that's the only negative that we could ascertain."

Political turncoat
Rebuff to radical nationalists
Svitlana Zalishchuk, on the other hand, saw slim changes for the one-time icon of the Orange Revolution. "She is a politician of the past," she said. "Her era is over."