Ukraine needs USD 200 mln for presidential elections

Ukraine needs 200 million U.S. dollars (over 1.9 billion hryvnia) for presidential elections slated for May 25, Central Election Commission Chairman Mikhail Okhendovsky said on Thursday, February 27.
“According to the calculations made by the Central Election Commission, 1.965 billion [hryvnia] need to be disbursed for the elections. However, given the current state of the budget, the commission will seek to reduce election expenditures as much as may be practicably possible,” he said.

Okhendovsky said “these expenditures include a possible runoff election.”
He said that the decision on the registration of candidates would be made within five days after the submission of the required documents to the Commission, Okhendovsky said. A candidate will have to make a deposit of about 280,000 U.S. dollars.
When asked whether UDAR (Punch) Party leader Vitali Klitschko and former Prime Minister and Batkivshchina party leader Yulia Timoshenko would run in the elections, Okhendovsky said, “We cannot make the decision before a potential candidates submits his documents to the CEC.”

It is not known who exactly will compete for the presidency in the upcoming elections, but former Prime Minister and Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party leader Yulia Timoshenko said she would not.
“Someone has circulated a statement alleging that Yulia Vladimirovna [Timoshenko] said she would run for presidency. This is not true. No such statement was made,” mass media quoted her lawyer Sergei Vlasenko as saying.