On Friday, February 8, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine or CEC finished registering candidates for the Presidency of Ukraine. According to a UNIAN, 44 politicians will continue the election campaign at this stage, a record-breaking number in Ukraine’s history. The last record was established in 2004 when the CEC registered 24 candidates for the election.

Social surveys conducted by various agencies have identified the possible top three contenders of the presidential race. They are the artistic director of Kvartal-95 studio, Volodymyr Zelensky, current President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Over the next month, all candidates can assess their chances in the campaign and apply to the CEC by March 7 to stop running for President and to recover the 2.5 million hryvnia (approximately $92,328.75) electoral deposit. On March 8, the commission will draw up a final list of politicians, whose names will be put on the ballot at the election of March 31st, 2019.

The CEC has registered a list of official election observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights or ODIHR. There are no Russian citizens on the list of 18 people, but the observers list from this organization may be updated.

  Ukraine, presidential elections

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