Vitali Klitschko, a world heavyweight boxing champion and aspiring politician, expressed plans to once again take part in the elections later this year for mayor of Kyiv.
As a deputy in the Kyiv city council and leader of the newly created UDAR party, which is translated in English as “punch,” Klitschko also said his party will be running in parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 28.
“As I have said previously, Kyiv should not live separate from the events in the country. I will run for the election in Kyiv, and our party, the UDAR Party, will also run in the parliamentary elections,” Klitschko said in an interview with Channel 5 on Feb. 28.
It’s the second time in the last several years that Klitschko is about to quit boxing in exchange for a political career in Ukraine. And unlike the May 2008 mayoral election when Klitschko came in third, this time he stands a strong chance of winning the seat.
Apart from running for mayor, Dr. Ironfist, as he is known, said he would also run for parliament and is sure to get through in both cases. “We will win both elections… I’m sure that we will form a majority with the [current] opposition,” he said.
According to a December Razumkov Center poll, Klitschko has 40 percent support nationwide and his party would pass the 5 percent threshold in parliamentary elections.
If successful in getting elected to parliament and as Kyiv mayor, the victories will serve as a nice warm-up if he has ambitions to run for president in 2015.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
