Second round presidential election: Drama Ukraine, last act

Presidential election Ukraine

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The cracks were not to be overlooked. When incumbent Petro Poroshenko and his challenger Volodymyr Selensky finally met at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, their followers were separated by bars and police officers. After all, the two candidates who want to be elected on Sunday in the decisive runoff election for President of Ukraine, finally stood on a stage.

But it was actually the final image of the so-called TV debate, which was characterized mainly by mutual verbal abuse, to know how divided the country is after the heated and sometimes aggressively led election campaign: While Selensky and his supporters still on the right side Poroshenko and his followers were already standing there silently, singing the hymn that his team quickly brought in - according to the motto: Look carefully, who is the better patriot in the country?

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Whether such pictures will help Poroshenko, who fought bitterly for his office to the end? The Ukrainians will decide now. The most important thing about the vote in the second largest European country at a glance:

The choice: The polling stations open at eight o'clock in the morning and close at 8 o'clock in the evening. According to the authorities 35.6 million people are eligible to vote. On the Crimea annexed by Russia and in the Donbass, the fighters supported by Moscow control is not selected. Forecasts are expected on Sunday evening, with first results at night.

Whether the turnout will be slightly higher than it was five years ago (63.5 percent, an increase of four percentage points compared to 2014), as in the first round, is unclear. It will be decisive how the voters of the other candidates who retired after the first ballot act. 20 percent recently stated that they did not yet know if and for whom they wanted to vote. After all, 39 competitors competed in the first round, more than ever before - which is a good sign of democracy in Ukraine overall.

The mood: In all polls Selensky leads by far. Those who chose to vote mostly stated that they wanted to vote for the actor. Most recently, his approval was 73 percent, a record. If he gets an election result over 55 percent in the end, that would be a triumph. For unlike Poroshenko, who won in the last election in 2014 with 54.70 percent in the first ballot, Selensky is a political novice.

Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS

Volodymyr Selensky

The favorite Selensky: The comedian and actor, known by the popular TV series "Sluga Naroda" ("servant of the people") on the honest and hard-working President Holoborodko, promises to end the corruption. The 41-year-old TV producer and millionaire has significantly shaped the election campaign with his promise for a new, better Ukraine. He did not actually lead that; at least not as one would imagine in the political sense. Selensky made himself scarce, hardly gave interviews, preferred to post videos on Facebook, let his advisers speak, presented no concrete program until the end, in short: he withdrew from the political scene - and bet on the principle of hope.

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With this promise, he has united the country - his followers are found throughout the country, almost three quarters of the regions opted for Selensky (read about the mood in the province here). However, it is unclear how far-reaching his relations with the oligarch Ihor Kolomojsky really are, one of the richest Ukrainians and owner of the channel 1 + 1. Kolomojsky lives abroad and is considered one of the fiercest opponents of Poroshenko. Not only does he support Selensky with his station, but the oligarch's security guards and cars are also used by the candidate's staff.

Not always well received, as the inexperienced Selensky expresses that if he wants to survive in politics, must learn quickly. So he called in the TV duel the Kremlin-backed fighters in Luhansk and Donetsk "rebels", which promptly led to a fierce criticism of the General Staff. After all, it is a war in Donbass and not a civil war, as Moscow likes to portray it.

GENYA SAVILOV / AFP

Petro Poroshenko

The incumbent Poroshenko: what did not the current president try? The 53-year-old struggled to the end - although his chances are considered low, the Politveteran appeared on television every day, came to the stadium for a discussion show, had blood taken to test for drugs and alcohol. Does it have to be that? Many asked themselves. He also hired political analysts who denigrated his opponent.

For Poroshenko, it was ultimately about at least reduce the distance to his challenger. For a long time, the president did not realize the seriousness of the situation. He was back in the polls at the end of the year, before Selensky announced his candidacy.

Although Poroshenko reformed the army in times of war, modernizing schools and the health sector, which enabled the visa-free regime for Ukrainians and an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, these achievements hardly seem to reach people. Above all, Selensky's supporters chastise Poroshenko for not really doing anything about corruption in the country, but as an oligarch himself becoming richer - even though his confectionery corporation "Roschen" is officially owned by others today.

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His campaign was based on the fear of the people - the fear of the hostile neighbor Russia, who not only supported the war in Donbass, but also annexed the Crimea. Posters with the slogan "The main thing not to lose the country" Poroshenko was set up just before the vote, as if Ukraine could no longer defend itself without him at the head of the country. Will such last-minute appeals be fruitful?

Crucial will be how Poroshenko will behave in the event of his defeat after this final spurt - after all, it is said that he believes he is the only true president of Ukraine. Selensky challenged this belief in the stadium. "I'm a simple person," he said. "One who came to break this system of power." Poroshenko had five years. His time is over now.