Home News Vitali Klitschko makes 2015 Ukraine presidential bid official

Vitali Klitschko makes 2015 Ukraine presidential bid official

Vitali Klitschko has officially announced that he will run for president of Ukraine in the 2015 elections. Klitschko is currently a member of the Ukranian parliament, and previously had two failed bids to become the mayor of Kiev.

(Pictured in the photos is a recent visit from brother Wladimir, as the two Klitschko brothers toured Ukraine’s parliament).

However, the anti-corruption party he formed, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, or UDAR, which translates to “punch” in Ukrainian and Russian, now holds 9.5% of the country’s parliament, with 42 seats.

Here’s what the 42-year-old Klitschko had to say in his speech to the Ukranian parliament:

“I want to say that I cannot be intimidated or stopped. In order to put an end to various attempts to get rid of me as a possible candidate, I want to say that I’m running for president.”

That means that Klitschko could be a major force in the next elections. However, there is some speculation that the current reigning parties may prevent him from running due to his status as a resident of Germany.

Klitschko preemptively responded to this by saying in his speech:

“I have a residence permit in Germany, but this doesn’t violate the Ukrainian legislation, and I’ve always been a citizen of Ukraine.”

So what does this mean for Vitali’s future in the squared circle? We may have seen him fight for the last time, already. He was planning a comeback for 2014, but it’s unclear at this time if he’ll cancel that to focus solely on politics, or if he’ll fight a farewell bout or two before hanging up the gloves for good.