Tymoshenko appeals to Yatseniuk and Yushchenko to back her in runoffs. Photo

December01200920:18

Premier and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has appealed to Ukraine patriots and democrats to unite to support a single candidate in the runoff election. She made the appeal in Lviv, addressing an event to mark the 165th anniversary of the Lviv Polytechnic Dec. 1, our correspondent reports.

There are 2 political rules of thumb, the premier said. Rule One is not to fight against one’s ideological allies. Rule Two is to back up in the runoffs the highest scorer among the ideological allies in the first round, Tymoshenko summed up.

Although all democratic candidates believe in their victory, to win in the runoffs they should demonstrate their ability to unite and serve Ukraine, Tymoshenko said.

“I can tell you one thing: I will back whoever of the democratic candidates wins in the first round,” Tymoshenko assured.

Comments

20:5903.12.09 Democratic foundation
- Elmer There is no contest in the presidential election. It is a one billion dollar farce.
  The two round first past the post system is seriously flawed. Why hold two round when the same outcome can be achieved in a single round of voting. Voters should mark their ballots in order of preference. Of no single candidate has a majority of votes the the candidates 9s) with t6he l;east votes are excluded and their votes are redistributed according to the voters nominated preference. It's as simple as 1,2 3 4 one round same result at half the cost..
  The reality of this election is that Yanukovych will face off against Yulia Tymoshenko. As long as Yushchenko and other minor candidates such as yatseniuk remain in the race competing against each other there will be no change in this outcome. Under the first=-past0-the-=post voting system Yushchenko, Yatseniuk and Hrytsenko can not transfer their vote to each other (Under a preferential system they could) 3rd place candidate Yatseniuk (and dropping) is more then 10 percentage points behind Tymoshenko. with 45 days to go I do not see much change in the outcome of the first ballot. The question is Can Yulia must sufficent support to outpoll Yanukovych..
  Yushchenko sold our Ukraine and democracy and with it he has vritually handed the presidency to Yanukovych,
  
  It's way to early to know if he will be a good president or not. (All presidents IMHO are doomed to fail) but he would have to be better then Yushchenko. The bar is not high.
21:2502.12.09 elmer
- Are there "ideological allies" in Ukraine among the presidential candidates?
  I don't see any "ideology" - I see corruption, and oligarchs, and alliances for the benefit of oligarchs based on corruption.
  I see "technical candidates," and one sick joker/fool who changed his name to "Againstall."
  Out of 18 presidential candidates, is there at least one who will truly eliminate corruption in Ukraine?