Ukraine’s burly boxing hero and strident protest leader Vitali Klitschko claimed victory Sunday in Kiev mayoral vote that cements his role as a statesman for the country’s post-Soviet generation.
“All change will begin in Kiev,” the former heavyweight champion declared after exit polls gave him 57 percent of the capital city’s vote.
The two-metre-tall titan who never suffered a knockdown in his stellar heavyweight career was Ukraine’s most popular figure at the height of the protests that toppled a Russian-backed regime in February.
But the 42-year-old’s star faded once the old president fled to Russia and voters began searching for others with similar pro-Western leanings but a bit more experience in dealing with delicate diplomatic and economic affairs.
Klitschko ran in tandem with Petro Poroshenko — a billionaire chocolate maker who was on course to win Sunday’s presidential poll in the first round.
But the mayor’s seat still leaves Klitschko with numerous levers of power and provides him with the perfect launching pad for a future presidential run.
The city boss not only manages a considerable share of the state budget but also oversees tax collection from Ukraine’s biggest and most influential companies.
That role is vital in a country where politicians and tycoons often switch places and where the position on weighty matters taken by big corporations is often as important as that assumed by parliament, Yahoo informs.
