No matter who comes out on top as president in the March 31 “election,” ordinary Ukrainians lose, along with any chance for regional peace – ruled out by Washington.
Over 40 candidates are running for president. Few among them have any chance to become puppet leader.
The country’s process combines travesty, tragedy, and farce, an illusion of what democratic elections are supposed to be, tolerated nowhere by the US, Ukraine part of its colonial empire, along with nearly all European, Latin, and Central American countries.
Candidates include US-installed sitting president Petro Porochenko. He’s a neoliberal, belligerent billionaire. Taking orders from Washington, he’s been waging intermittent war without mercy on Donbass Ukrainians. He entered politics for power and greater wealth, along with wanting to avoid prosecution for criminality.
As long as they’re part of the dirty system in bed with Washington, Ukrainian pols have immunity. In the months ahead of the US February 2014 coup, Poroshenko helped bankroll Kiev putschists.
His business interests include food, automotive, shipping, and media. Bodgan Corporation is a leading Ukrainian car and bus manufacturer.
Roshen Confectionery Corporation earned Poroshenko the “chocolate king” nickname.
It’s the world’s 18th largest confectionery producer.
Kanal English language television channels feature state-sponsored propaganda and other worthless programming.
Leninska Kuznya shipyard produces river ships, industrial ones, small fishing vessels, self-propelled barges, related products and various military equipment.
Poroshenko’s single-digit approval rating assures him no chance for “reelection” if conducted legitimately.
Days earlier, Tass cited Ukrainian political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko, saying the following:
“Ukraine’s five leading polling companies are cooperating with” Poroshenko. Presidential polls “do not reflect the real picture, showing only general trends and the degree of protest voting rather than support for a certain candidate.”
They artificially increased “Poroshenko’s (dismal) approval rating” at the expense of his chief rival Yulia Timoshenko. More on her below. Saintly she’s not, far from it!
Bondarenko believes Poroshenko will artificially “take the lead in the polls a few weeks before the election, so these ratings are also used to justify future manipulations by” his regime.
Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management director Ruslan Bortnik explained that “about 20%-30% of the population vote for the winner of the polls,” real ratings suppressed, state approved fake ones alone published.
Approval ratings will likely artificially change in the run-up to March 31. Comedian/entertainer Vladimir Zelensky currently leads other aspirants with about 20% voter support.
According to Bortnik, mostly young Ukrainians “under age of 25…unlikely to go to the polling stations” back him. “Zelensky is a convenient choice for those who do not know who to vote for.”
Under a free, fair and open process, along with Bortnik’s assessment aside, Zelensky should be best positioned to replace Poroshenko as Ukrainian president, Timoshenko finishing second, followed by the current incumbent and former vice prime minister Yuri Boiko.
Others in the race include Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, State Fiscal Service head/accused embezzler Roman Nasirov, accused sex offender Volodymyr Petrov, and dozens of others with no chance of winning.
If the Trump regime wants Poroshenko retained as its man in Kiev, he’ll most likely be re-anointed to serve US imperial interests in Central Europe.
Otherwise, billionaire Timoshenko most likely will replace him. Earlier she was imprisoned for embezzlement and serious “abuse of public office.”
Charges included illegally diverting $425 million meant for environmental projects into pension funds. A second case involved stealing around $130 million for personal use.
She headed United Energy Systems (UES). Her shady business practices earned her the nickname “gas princess.”
As US orchestrated 2004 Orange Revolution prime minister, she operated extrajudicially, scorning economic reform, along with furthering her presidential ambitions, a platform if gained for greater abuse of power and corruption.
Ukrainian governance has no legitimacy, serving Western and its own interests at the expense of ordinary people and peace.
No matter who’s named Ukrainian president after the March “election,” dirty business as usual will triumph like earlier in 2014
It’s how things work in America. Money-controlled elections are farcical, mocking what democracy is supposed to be. One party rule with two extremist right wings runs things. The war party wins every time.
A Final Comment
According to a Ukrainian Strana news service investigation, Poroshenko intends trying to rig his reelection, his only chance to stay in office, the publication saying:
“Members of the Poroshenko election team expect that the scheme will allow the incumbent president to receive additional seven to ten percent of the vote, provided that voter turnout will reach 60%,”
adding:
“This will make it possible for Poroshenko to reach the runoff election. A thing to note is that the Setka scheme will be financed by the budget, that is, by taxpayers.”
Whatever the outcome, the possibility of a legitimate process is virtually nil, the nation run by US-installed fascist extremists.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
