Facts about Ukraine’s key presidential vote

More than 36 million people are eligible to vote in Ukraine’s presidential election which the West hopes will help lead the way out of a crisis that has brought the country to the edge of collapse.

It is the sixth presidential vote since Ukraine became independent with the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, but arguably its most crucial.

The election was called by the new leadership that swept to power after the ouster of pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled in February after months of often bloody protests against his rule and in favour of closer ties with the European Union.

The names of 21 candidates are on the ballot papers, but two have already announced they are withdrawing from the presidential race.

The clear frontrunner is billionaire “chocolate king” Petro Poroshenko with over 30 percent support in opinion polls, far ahead of the deeply divisive former darling of the 2004 Orange Revolution Yulia Tymoshenko on just six percent.

The other 17 hopefuls are a mixed bag of politicians, including pro-Russians and ultranationalists, but none are tipped to win more than four percent.

And despite the radically different political scene that has emerged since the so-called Maidan protests in the heart of Kiev, there are no fresh faces among the leading candidates.

The figure of 36 million includes voters in the rebel-held east of the country and Ukraine’s Black Sea region of Crimea which was seized by Russia in March in defiance of Western outrage.

Election officials in Kiev have warned of the difficulties they face in running the vote in the insurgent strongholds of Donetsk and Lugansk which declared themselves independent republics after disputed May 11 referendums.

Ukrainian authorities have also set up stations in the south to enable people in Crimea to vote, but it is not clear whether or how they will cross from what Russia now considers its territory.

In the bitterly contested last election in 2010, Yanukovych won a run-off against Tymoshenko by a razor-thin margin and later jailed her on abuse of power charges she claims were politically motivated.

Polling stations will open at 0500 GMT on May 25 and close at 1700 GMT.

Three independent institutions will issue exit polls immediately after the close, with results expected to be announced from 2100 GMT.

No minimum turnout is required to validate the outcome.

If no candidate garners more than 50 percent of the vote, a second-round run-off is due to be held on June 15.

One of the tasks of the new president, who will be elected to a five-year term, will be to set the date for elections for the 450-seat parliament.