Ukraine’s Former Bank Chief Tyhypko May Replace Yanukovich in Presidential Rerun Created: 30.11.2004 10:52 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:52 MSK, 14 hours 42 minutes ago
MosNews
Serhiy Tyhypko, ex-chief of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich’s campaign team and leader of the Labor Ukraine party, said he does not rule out that in the case of repeat elections he may run for the Ukrainian presidency.
The former Central Bank chief made the announcement on Ukraine’s Channel 5 television just a day after resigning from his job as bank chairman in order to pursue politics. President Leonid Kuchma agreed that repeat elections were a way out of the election crisis that has paralyzed the country over the last week, after liberal opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko protested the official election results handing victory to pro-Kremlin Yanukovich.
Speaking to Channel 5 reporters, Tyhypko said he believes he has “certain responsibilities before the people” as a former campaign leader.
Tyhypko may run “if the parliament votes [for repeat election] and the party [Labor Ukraine] makes a corresponding decision,” the Russian Information Agency Novosti quoted him as saying.
When asked about the outlook for overcoming the political crisis in the country, he replied, “We simply must overcome the divide in society.”
The Russian Gazeta daily speculated Tuesday that Tyhypko was all but a perfect candidate to take Yanukovich’s place if repeat elections were held. The 44-year-old banker has close ties to the outgoing president’s family, and has been a favorite during the nation’s economic reforms throughout the latter half of the 1990’s.
The newspaper also cited comments Tyhypko made Monday criticizing Yanukovich’s role in splitting the country, as evidence he may run in place of the prime minister.
According to official results, Yanukovich beat his pro-Western rival by just 3 percent, and garnered the support of the Russian-speaking industrial east, pitting it against the more nationalistic western Ukraine.
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