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Ukrainians turned out in droves Sunday to choose a new president, in the first elections since a pro-Western revolution in February that ousted the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych.
While pro-Russian rebels blocked most voting in the southeastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk – and no election was held in the Crimean Peninsula, which Ukraine still claims despite its annexation by Moscow in March – lineups were long at polling stations in and around the capital city, Kiev.
A slight majority among the two dozen voters interviewed Sunday by The Globe and Mail said they had either voted for (or were about to vote for) front-runner Petro Poroshenko.
The 48-year-old tycoon, who made the bulk of his estimated $1-billion fortune via his Roshen chocolates and candy empire, was well ahead in all opinion polls, with the only question being whether he would win enough votes Sunday to pass the 50-per-cent-mark and avoid a runoff election in three weeks' time against whoever comes second on the ballot.
Here is a selection of the voters The Globe and Mail met at polling stations today. Photographs by Marta Iwanek.
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Pavel Krutenko, 49-year-old manager of a medical services
company
Voted for: Sergei Tyhypko, a millionaire former central
banker who served as deputy prime minister under Mr.
Yanukovych.
Quote: “Forget about these places, Donbass [Donetsk and
Lugansk] and Crimea. Forget about them and we will have a
normal country.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Inna Tkach, 48-year-old bank employee
Voted for: Petro Porashenko, chocolate magnate whose Fifth
Channel television station played a mobilizing role in both
the 2004 Orange Revolution and this year’s “Euromaidan”
uprising
Quote: “I hope [Poroshenko] wins in the first round,
because the situation we have now is a military crisis… the
most important thing is that there’s an end to the war in
Ukraine.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Roman Sviderskiy, 33-year-old policeman turned folk
performer
Voted for: Olga Bogomolets, a doctor famous for the clinic
she set up to treat those wounded when clashes between
protesters and police turned deadly in February
Quote: “Not all of the requirements of Maidan have been
met. There’s a lot of talk of a third Maidan. It’s
possible… we have not changed the system yet.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Andrii Kachmar, 32-year-old construction worker who now works
as armed security at ongoing protest camp on the Maidan – Kiev’s
Independence Square
Voted for: Oleh Lyashko, leader of the Radical Party, a
party that calls for the “lustration” of the country’s
civil service and which has sent volunteers to fight
against pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk.
Quote: “The new president will not be able to behave like
the last one. They will be afraid of the people.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Svetlana Lyashenko, 67-year-old teacher
Voted for: Former prime minister (and Orange Revolution
leader) Yulia Tymoshenko
Quote: “I believe in [Ms. Tymoshenko]. During her whole
career, she’s never changed her principles. We have all
this propaganda to vote [for Mr. Poroshenko] and finish the
election in the first round. But people should vote for
what they feel and not be pressured.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Boris Primok, 67-year-old musician
Voted for: Tymoshenko
Quote: “I don’t think very highly of [Mr. Poroshenko]… He
can change at any moment to a different side. His politics
are not very stable.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Oksana Grinyevich, a 32-year-old economist
Voted for: Poroshenko
Quote: “We need a stable leader who will deal with the
people’s needs.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Tamara Yevtushenko, 65-year-old biologist
Voted for: Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the nationalist Right
Sector movement
Quote: “[Right Sector] are the people who can do specific
things. Yarosh will make order in the state and get rid of
all the old politicians and provide us a normal life.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Natasha Bogachkova, 27-year-old ceramic artist
Voted for: Poroshenko
Quote: “We should make good propaganda on TV about
Ukrainian culture. [People in Donbass and Crimea] have to
think differently about Ukraine… and see that they should
be proud to be Ukrainian.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Vadim Shemchuk, 33-year-old major in Ukrainian army
Voted for: Poroshenko
Quote: “I can say in the name of all military people that
the first thing we need is stability – and then to increase
the capabilities of the army.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Vlada Gutsaliuk, 25-year-old personal assistant
Voted for: Poroshenko
Quote: “I hope that [Poroshenko] wins today. I don’t want
any more problems or disruptions because of the [potential
second round of the] elections.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Dima Dzhashi, 27-year-old search engine optimizer
Voted for: Hadn’t voted yet, but was leaning towards
Lyashko
Quote: “There’s no one to choose from, really. I don’t like
either Poroshenko or Tymoshenko because they’ve both been
in Ukrainian politics a long time and I’d like to see some
new faces.”
Marta Iwanek for the Globe and Mail
Alina Rusina, 24-year-old postgraduate math student at the
Taras Shevcheko National University
Voted for: not able to vote because registered in the wrong
place. Would have voted for Poroshenko
Quote: “The new president needs to regulate the internal
conflict. I wish it could be done in a peaceful way, but
I’m not sure it will work out like this.”
