Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the Batkivschyna party and Ukraine's former prime minister, has topped the list of the most influential women in Ukraine.
"Despite the fact that Ms. Tymoshenko’s influence has significantly declined in the past year, she has still managed to retain a leading position. A high personal political rating, the party’s second place in local elections, and a lack of strong opponents have secured Tymoshenko’s leadership in the rating for the fifth year in a row," said Focus weekly, who compiled the list.
Unlike in previous years, Tymoshenko was not always given the first position by pundits polled by Focus this time around, "and yet, in terms of the aggregate number of points, Lady Yu [Tymoshenko] has overridden the other candidates for leadership, who represent the ruling party," the issue says.
Hanna Herman, a deputy head of the presidential secretariat, is second on the top 100 list, first deputy presidential secretariat head Iryna Akimova third, Olena Pinchuk, second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma’s daughter, fourth, and Olena Lukash, the presidential representative at the Constitutional Court, fifth.
Focus also pointed to the fact that Tetyana Bakhteyeva, a Party of Regions deputy and head of the parliamentary healthcare committee, has risen to seventh from 60 last year. The publication explained this primarily by Bakhteyeva’s good relations with President Viktor Yanukovych and suggested that influence in Ukraine is closely correlated with an official position.
This year there were 27 new entries on the list, which, in Focus’s view, is a result of "a change of political coordinates" in the country.
