![Presidential elections in Ukraine [What Think Tanks are thinking]](https://i0.wp.com/epthinktank.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/eprs_brie_tt_635581_ukraine_final.jpg?fit=1000%2C498&ssl=1)
Written by Marcin Grajewski,
Ukraine will hold presidential elections on 31 March, five years after the Maidan protests resulted in the impeachment of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovich, setting the country on a course to depeen ties with the West. Russia reacted by launching a hybrid war against Ukraine, which resulted in the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014, and in military aggression in eastern Ukraine. The outcome of the ballot is uncertain, but the new leader is expected to continue efforts of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko to deepen relations with the European Union and NATO,and continue the country’s reform process, including anti-corruption measures.
A record 44 candidates are contesting the election, with actor and political novice Volodymyr Zelenskiy holding the lead in opinion polls, followed by Poroshenko and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. If no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round, the two top contenders will face each other in a run-off on 21 April.
This note offers links to recent commentaries, studies and reports from major international think tanks on the situation in Ukraine .
Ukraine: What comes after the presidential election?
Carnegie Europe, March 2019
Who is ready to lead Ukraine?
Atlantic Council, March 2019
Patriotism, pressure, populism: How Poroshenko can win
Carnegie Europe, March 2019
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine
Atlantic Council, March 2019
Der Donbas-Konflikt
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, February 2019
Kremlin-linked forces in Ukraine’s 2019 elections: On the brink of revenge?
Institut français des relations internationales, February 2019
Ukrainian society ahead of the elections
Carnegie Europe, February 2019
Ukraine’s leading presidential candidates (minus Poroshenko) promise to fight corruption
Atlantic Council, February 2019
Ukraine’s experiment with trust
European Council on Foreign Relations, February 2019
Russia looks to strike at Ukraine’s south again?
Atlantic Council, February 2019
The Ukraine model for Brexit: Is dissociation just like association?
Centre for European Reform, February 2019
L’industrie de défense Ukrainienne
Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur la Paix et la Sécurité, February 2019
What will the 2019 Ukraine elections spell for the Donbas conflict?
Istituto Affari Internazionali, February 2019
And yet it moves: Post-Soviet frozen conflicts in 2019
Istituto Affari Internazionali, February 2019
The European deterrence initiative
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, January 2019
Elections in 2019: Risks of more interference
German Marshall Fund, January 2019
The Sea of Azov should not become a Russian lake
European Policy Centre, December 2018
No Russian let-up on Ukraine
Rand Europe, December 2018
Advancing natural gas reform in Ukraine
Council on Foreign Relations, December 2018
Crimea annexation 2.0
Carnegie Europe, November 2018
Ukraine’s new front is Europe’s big challenge
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2018
Time for Trump to stand up to Putin after the Sea of Azov attack
German Marshall Fund, November 2018
Supporting political stability by strengthening local government
Danish Institute of International Studies, November 2018
What is happening in relations of Ukraine with its western neighbouring states?
International Centre for Policy Studies, October 2018
Occupied Crimea: Europe’s grey zone
European Policy Centre, October 2018
A Church conflict brews in Ukraine
Carnegie Europe, October 2018
‘Nobody wants us’: The alienated civilians of Eastern Ukraine
International Crisis Group, October 2018
The attitude of Ukrainians toward social democracy
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, October 2018
Migration from Ukraine to Poland: The trend stabilises
Centre for Eastern Studies, October 2018
Russia vs. Ukraine: More of the same?
Brookings Institution, October 2018
The struggle for good governance in Eastern Europe
Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2018
Ukraine’s incomplete transformation
Carnegie Europe, September 2018
Deepening EU-Ukrainian relations: What, why and how?
Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2018
How Eastern Ukraine is adapting and surviving: The case of Kharkiv
Carnegie Europe, September 2018
Ukraine and its neighbors: Analysis of regional trends
International Centre for Policy Studies, September 2018
Rebuilding Ukraine: An assessment of EU assistance
Chatham House, August 2018
How Ukraine’s government has struggled to adapt to Russia’s digital onslaught
Council on Foreign Relations, August 2018
Ukraine’s Helsinki hangover
German Marshall Fund, July 2018
Ukraine: The struggle for reforms continues
Bruegel, July 2018
Integrity on trial: Judicial reform in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova
Centre for European Policy Studies, June 2018
Ukrainian elections: Poroshenko and proliferating populists
European Council on Foreign Relations, May 2018
Poroshenko stands alone: Ukraine politics in a pre-election year
Centre for Eastern Studies, May 2018
A route to national resilience: Building whole-of-society security in Ukraine
International Centre for Defence and Security, April 2018
The EU twinning instrument in Ukraine: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Centre for European Policy Studies, April 2018
Russian social media influence: Understanding Russian propaganda in Eastern Europe
Rand Europe, April 2018
Read this briefing note on ‘Presidential elections in Ukraine‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
