Ukraine prepares for presidential election

Ukraine's presidential candidates have ended their three-month campaign to get ready for the presidential election to be held on Sunday.

A total of 18 candidates are in the running, including incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich.

Ukraine's electoral law forbids campaigning 24 hours before election day, giving voters a quiet day to ponder their decisions.

Analysts believe that none of the candidates will be able to win an outright victory in the first round and that Yanukovich and Tymoshenko will most likely have to face each other in a run-off slated for Feb. 7.

Since the last presidential election in 2004, Ukraine's politics have been plagued by a strife. Discord initially erupted between Yanukovich and Orange Revolution allies, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko. Later the focus shifted to friction between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.

Analysts caution that much can change in the next month, but Yanukovich, 59, remains the favorite to become Ukraine's fourth president since independence.

Yanukovich, a political street-fighter who served twice as prime minister, claims his durability stems from a childhood of abject misery on the streets of Yenakiyevo, a suburb of the industrial capital of Donetsk.

"My childhood was difficult and hungry. I grew up without my mother, who died when I was two. I went bare-foot on the streets. I had to fight for myself every day," he wrote in his campaign literature.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116264§ionid=351020606.