Vakarchuk is not going to the polls: He will support Poroshenko, but will help Zelensky
The lead singer of the Ukrainian group Okean Elzy, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, who took part in the Maidans of 2004 and 2014, announced his refusal to participate in the presidential campaign, although sociologists predicted good chances for him, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I officially declare: I, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, will not participate in the 2019 presidential elections. I am well aware that now, in jeans, I can do more for the country than in a tie,” he said.
Vakarchuk promised: “Together with my team, I will work to ensure that the pro-European forces win.”
“As far as I understand, the decision was made at the beginning of the year, and it concerns not only the presidential elections. Separately, it must be said that the appeal appeared on the eve of the nomination of Petro Poroshenko, which will take place tomorrow,” another Maidan activist Mustafa Nayem commented on Vakarchuk’s statement.
Kiev political scientist Nikolai Spiridonov claims that Vakarchuk can support Poroshenko.
“According to my information, as part of the pompous congress to nominate the current guarantor, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk will sing and... declare his support for Poroshenko in the elections! He never risked running for office,” Spiridonov said.
Kiev journalist Maxim Gardus believes that attracting Vakarchuk as a “VIP agitator” may not so much help Poroshenko as add chances to Vladimir Zelensky, who has lost a competitor in the niche of “new candidates.”
“Obviously, the absence of Vakarchuk will give the greatest effect to Zelensky. In the niche of new ones, he is now alone,” says Gardus.
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