Chocolate King Poroshenko beats Orange Princess Tymoshenko

Billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko has won the presidential election in Ukraine. He has received 57,31 percent of the vote. Thus, according to exit polls, Poroshenko won the election in the first round. Yulia Tymoshenko comes second with 12.39 percent of the vote. She already said that she and her party would strive for Ukraine's membership at NATO.

During the election campaign, it was generally believed that Poroshenko was an unconditional leader of the race.

Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and former Georgian Minister for Economy Kakha Dendukidze may enter Poroshenko's team as presidential advisers. This was announced by the leader of UDAR party, Vitali Klitschko, who was elected as the Mayor of Kiev.

"Georgia is an example for us. I have talked to many on this subject. I spoke to Saakashvili - he offered his services, I spoke to Dendukidze too, and I'm sure each of them will help, if need be," said Klitschko.

Pyotr Poroshenko declared his readiness to cooperate with Russia and meet with President Vladimir Putin.

Poroshenko believes that the negotiation process began during the Geneva meeting, which took place in April. "There is the beginning of the negotiation process - this is the Geneva forum. I think that today we can negotiate with Russia involving the United States, the EU and conduct talks in other formats," he said.

At the same time, the winner of the presidential race in Ukraine said that without the participation of Russia, talking about security issues would be impossible. "We will find the format of cooperation, and, of course, a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place," he said.

As for Ukraine's relations with Russia, they are the most complicated relations in the past 200 years. However, he believes that there are formats that allow one to solve outstanding problems between Kiev and Moscow.

"Russia is our largest neighbor. Notwithstanding the enormous challenges that have arisen, not through fault of Ukraine, in our bilateral relations recently, we have a sufficient number of formats that enable us to begin to address the backlog of issues," said Poroshenko.

Acting President of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov said that the Ukrainian elections were open and transparent.

"The elections were conducted openly and transparently, the vote was free, without artificial restrictions and administrative pressure," the press service of the Verkhovna Rada quoted Turchynov as saying on Sunday evening. "With the elections, which, I hope, all civilized countries of the world will recognize, we have destroyed the plans of our enemies. This is our common victory," said Acting President of Ukraine.

Turchynov thanked all Ukrainian citizens for their awareness of the importance of expressing people's will."

The elections in Ukraine took place on May 25th. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, there were no violations committed during the vote, except for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions that had previously declared independence.

The head of the legal department of Poroshenko's electoral headquarters, Roman Zvarych, said that the inauguration of the new President of Ukraine may be held on June 9 or 10.

"I have not talked about it to Pyotr Poroshenko, but based on the current legislation, the inauguration may take place on June 9 or 10," he said.

The Ukrainian Central Election Commission will summarize the results of the election within ten days after the vote. However, representatives of the headquarters of Poroshenko hope that it will be done more quickly. Under the Ukrainian law, the inauguration of a new president takes place five days after the adoption of the outcome of elections.

Poroshenko is a representative of big business. He has been in politics since 1998. He supports the unitary Ukraine, election of local government and believes that the Ukrainian language should be the only official language. He promises to return the Crimea and hold early parliamentary elections.

Poroshenko was born in the city of Bolhrad, the Odessa region, on 26 September 1965, but was raised in the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine. In 1989, he graduated with a degree in economics from the international relations and international law department (subsequently the Institute of International Relations) of Kiev State University.

In the 1990s, he acquired control over several confectionery enterprises. Subsequently, he united his holdings in that industry into Roshen group, the largest confectionery manufacturer in Ukraine. The fortune he made in the chocolate industry earned him the nickname Chocolate King.[6] Poroshenko's business empire also includes several car and bus plants, Leninska Kuznya shipyard, the 5 Channel television channel as well as other businesses. In March 2012, Forbes placed him on the Forbes list of billionaires at 1,153rd place, with a fortune worth $1 billion.