The last chance for Poroshenko to maintain his rating

The first round of presidential elections in Ukraine is over, but the struggle for power is just beginning. To tell the truth, one can be proud of the fact that the electoral process has become a real intrigue. Until the very last moment it remained unclear who is going to win.

After the announcement of the results, real mind games began between the current president Petro Poroshenko and his counterpart Vladimir Zelensky. At first, they blamed each other in absentia, and then they made a real video war on the place and time for political debates. In the end, Poroshenko accepted the challenge, and this event is going to take place at the “Olympiysky” stadium.

However, coming to this battle unprepared is a real suicide. Especially for the current president of Ukraine. The fact is that Vladimir Zelensky has nothing to lose. He has already proved that a comedian and a showman can fight in the run-up to the presidential race. For Peter Alekseevich, with his extremely ambiguous background of political decisions, television debates can seriously reduce the number of the electorate.

That is why in the last (perhaps) days of his presidency Petro Poroshenko began to participate in the life of the state. I'm talking about signing program of strengthening of Ukraine-NATO partnership, supporting military personnel, and taking initiatives that can help him to "win" voters.

Check the facts. On April 2, the president asked the Cabinet of Ministers to provide the organization and prepare the list of people, who should pass polygraph. All management team of Ukroboronprom State Concern, the heads of the state enterprises of the defence industry and heads of the enterprises responsible for the financial activity, must be included. For some people this step can be seen as a fight with corruption and plunder, unfortunately it is just a mind game. Before the second round of elections, Poroshenko will make a huge number of populist statements, populist steps, and sacrifice unpopular figures.

Let us move to 2017, when anti-corruption commission has been investigating wrongdoing in the state-run defence production enterprise, a consortium of around 130 companies with close ties to the country’s president. Foreign policy writes that even for the West “UkrOboronProm is often singled out as a prominent example of corruption that hurts Ukraine’s relationship with its most important supporters, and critics blame it for harming Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russian-backed forces in the east.”

Two years after, nothing is still done to stop the chaos in our military industry. The latest corruption scandal in Ukroboronprom received a wide response only because it fell on the peak of the election race. Meanwhile, two videos from the “Bihus.info” investigative journalism project opened the veil of secrecy. The latest one accuses Ukroboronprom of procurements at prices five times higher than the market average. The first one was dedicated to how Oleh Hladkovskyi, President Poroshenko’s business partner, allegedly laundered $9.2mn in defense procurements.

It was the moment when Poroshenko realized that under the guise of fighting against corruption, he could show his involvement into the problem. However, it is not enough. It’s impossible to close your eyes on lawlessness and theft for 4 years, and in the last days of the presidency imitate vigorous activities, involvement in the problems of the state and oppose corruption, the conditions for which he created by himself.

Maybe Petro Poroshenko should give up his presidential ambitions and leave, recognizing that his plans failed. Otherwise, the situation can only worsen, and the political and economic crisis will affect even more Ukrainians.