You're reading: Poroshenko widens the lead in presidential polls

 Ukraine’s confectionary magnate Petro Poroshenko increased his popularity ahead of presidential elections scheduled on May 25 to almost 33 percent, leaving his main rival Yulia Tymoshenko with only 9.5 percent of support, a new poll revealed.

A
sociological survey jointly done by Center of Sociological and
Marketing Surveys “SOCIS,” Kyiv International Institute of
Sociology, Sociological Group “Rating” and Razumkov think tank on April 9-16 showed that self-nominated Poroshenko’s support has gone up by 8 percent compared to March.

At
the same time, the number of people who said they were ready to vote
for Tymoshenko, leader of Batkivshchyna political party, increased
only by 1.3 percent.

The third contender in the polls is  Serhiy Tihipko, a member of Party of Regions who runs independently. He has 5.1 percent of people supporting him.  

Then comes the official candidate of the Party of Regions, former Kharkiv
governor Mykhailo Dobkin with 4.2 percent of people ready to vote for him. Communist party leader Petro Symonenko is number five with 4 percent.

There are 23 candidates running for president in this election.

Despite concerns about disruption of elections in eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea by the Russians, some 85 percent of Ukrainians said they would come to the polls.

The companies surveyed 6,200 people across the country, with the exception of Crimea. The margin of error is no more than  0.8
percent.   

Kyiv
Post staff writer Oksana Gytsenko can be reached
at 
[email protected]