Friday, March, 28, 2014, 08:52
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko intends to run for the presidency in an election that will be held on May 25. She made the formal announcement at a press conference on Thursday.
“I plan to run for president of Ukraine”, said Tymoshenko. “On March 29, I will ask the Batkivshchyna Party at the convention to officially nominate me for the highest office in the State,” she said.
“Literally, if you recall my political life, maybe I’m the only person in the party who demonstrated how to minimize corruption … In the energy sector, I cleaned out corruption in 7 months,” says the former PM.
“I have the moral right to say that I will fight corruption, for I successfully and honestly passed the audit by Yanukovych and Azarov,” said Tymoshenko.
“I believe that I will be a candidate for Ukrainian unity,” she said, pointing out that she came from “the region that is not supporting our revolution now and where some people do not care about the Ukrainian language.”
In addition, according to Tymoshenko, she has the moral right to run because she knows best how to overcome lawlessness, as a person who personally faced it while in prison.
“To understand how tragic it is, one must endure it. It is impossible to read about it in books. That’s why I long to overcome this injustice,” she said.
Tymoshenko also said that she knows how to beat the oligarchic clans, and “turn oligarchy into honest businesses which do not eat from the political table.”
Also, in her words, she fought corruption better than everybody else. “For 22 years every government and every president has made anti-corruption bills and received financial aid. As you may recall, Yanukovych and Azarov were the most eloquent in their struggle with corruption,” she said.
“I have to run for presidency, because, if you remember my political life, I am the only person who showed how to minimize corruption. These prisons – they are not a shame nor humiliation. They are state awards for the fight against corruption,” said the former prime minister.
“I am confident that I can defend Ukraine from Russian aggression and return Crimea to Ukraine,” Tymoshenko added.
The original news in Ukrainian (with photo) is on the Ukrainska Pravda website:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/27/7020502/
