Tymoshenko's Popularity Nearly 5% Up Since May Ahead Of Ukraine's Presidential Vote - Poll

Tymoshenko's Popularity Nearly 5% Up Since May Ahead of Ukraine's Presidential Vote - Poll

The approval rating of former Ukrainian Prime Minister and current leader of the Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) party Yulia Tymoshenko increased to 17.8 percent in August, up by almost 5 percent since May, ahead of Ukraine's March 2019 presidential election, a poll showed on Tuesday.

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2018) The approval rating of former Ukrainian Prime Minister and current leader of the Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) party Yulia Tymoshenko increased to 17.8 percent in August, up by almost 5 percent since May, ahead of Ukraine's March 2019 presidential election, a poll showed on Tuesday.

"Among the presidential candidates, the approval rating of Yulia Tymoshenko has increased significantly in the recent period from 13.3 percent in May to 17.8 in August," a press release on the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation's website read.

According to the poll, jointly conducted by the foundation and the Razumkov Center think tank, Ukraine's former Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko ranked second with 8.4 percent approval, followed by incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with 7.9 percent.

Ukraine will also hold its parliamentary election in the fall of 2019, with 225 out of 450 Verkhovna Rada members elected by party-list proportional representation with a 5 percent election threshold.

"Among political parties, [Tymoshenko's] Batkivshchyna got the majority of votes from those who are going to attend the elections 18.5 percent," the press release said.

According to the poll, Batkivshchyna is followed by Hrytsenko's Civil Position party which received 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, Za Zhyttia (For Life) political party led by businessman Vadim Rabinovich, came third with 8.7 percent.

The survey was conducted on August 16-22 among 2,019 people in all of Ukraine's regions, except for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

Tymoshenko said she would run for Ukraine's presidency in late June.