Ukraine’s Vitali Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxer who is well—regarded in western Europe, said on Saturday that he was pulling out of the campaign for Presidential elections.
Klitschko was one of the stalwarts of street protests that brought down Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February. He said in Kiev that he had decided not to be a candidate in the May 25 poll.
The race is expected to be dominated by Yulia Tymoshenko, a savvy former premier who spent two and a half years in jail under Yanukovych.
The ex—boxer spent his fighting career based in Germany, and has met German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the crisis. He has been described as a wooden speaker with nothing to match Tymoshenko’s rhetorical magic.
