55 to E-day: Klitschko in the first round?

Mayor Chernovetsky said March 31 that it is unlikely the mayoral election will be held in two rounds instead of the current one round. The way the first past post system works, the winning candidate needs merely to win more votes than any other opponent.

Chernovetsky won the race in March, 2006 with 32% of the capital city vote, followed by Vitaly Klitschko (24%) and Oleksandr Omelchenko with 21%. Two years ago 21 candidates ran for the post.

The CVU held the “Kyiv primaries” on March 26 with 20 portable voting booths across the city. In a matter of three hours, nearly 7,000 (6,945) people were polled. They were presented with a choice of 7 candidates:

1. V. Klitschko 45.17 %
2. Yu. Lutsenko 8.89
3. L. Chernovetsky 8.74
4. O. Omelchenko 8.67
5. M. Tomenko 8.42
6. O. Turchynov 7.22
7. Spoiled ballots 5.18
8. M. Pozhyvanov 4.54
9. V. Kaskiv 2. 46
10 Other candidates 0.69 %

Klitschko would win that round by knockout. But is the sociology sound? The poll numbers will start flying soon...