How to Watch (And Understand) Ukraine's Presidential Election

Stay the slow and not-quite-steady course with a deeply unpopular but seasoned leader who knows the ropes and has taken Ukraine westward despite foot-dragging on reforms and a failure to tackle entrenched corruption.

Go with another veteran, a political survivor with a dodgy past twice imprisoned by opponents who has lost two presidential elections but is banking on public disappointment and populist promises to carry her to victory.

Or take a chance on a comedian with no experience in politics and governing but who has managed to tap into an antiestablishment mood similar to what's brought unconventional leaders to power in the West by appealing directly to them for answers.

The election is the country's seventh since independence and second since the Euromaidan uprising ousted a Russia-friendly president in 2014 to set it on a more westward political path.

Those Euromaidan ideas, along with the many serious challenges are likely to be foremost in the minds of voters.

Whoever wins stands to inherit a country that is the poorest in Europe, with a volatile economy, a poverty rate of around 60 percent, a national average wage of just $350 a month, and endemic corruption.

They will be faced with a public that is so disillusioned with the government that just 9 percent of people have confidence in it -- the lowest confidence level in the world for the second straight year, according to Gallup. The global average was 56% in 2018.

And that person will need to step into the role of Ukraine's commander in chief, tasked with safeguarding a nation that remains engaged in a bloody war that has killed more than 13,000 people and is about to enter its sixth year.

March 31st:

"Polling stations across Ukraine will open at 8 a.m. local time and close at 8 p.m. Ukrainians living abroad can vote at their embassies and consulates, except those in Russia, where Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has told resident Ukrainians to return to Ukraine or visit a neighboring country to cast ballots.

There will be no voting in Crimea, which was annexed and remains occupied by Russia, and a swatch of territory about the size of Maryland in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk that has been cut off by Russia-backed separatists. Many of Ukraine's estimated 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are also unlikely to vote due to difficulties registering at new residences. Those who can vote will be given a paper ballot on which they must mark their presidential choice in pen before dropping it into a transparent box.

A record-breaking 44 candidates began the campaign, but five of them quickly dropped out. That leaves 39 names on a ballot that runs 83 centimeters (around 32 inches) long. But as things stood this week, it looked like a three-horse race."

The Chocolate King, The Prince of Comedy, and The Gas Queen

Personally, I’d go with whomever puts the national interests of Ukraine first and foremost above ALL other considerations.

Those people have been under one boot or another for a long time. It’s time for them to be left the hell alone to decide their OWN destiny.

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