It looks like former heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko’s bid to become mayor of Kiev, Ukraine has fallen short. Results from Sunday’s elections have been counted from approximately 800 of the city’s 1026 polling stations and incumbent Leonid Chernovetsky holds a commanding 20 percentage point lead over Oleksandr Turchynov – the candidate from Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc – as well as Doktor Iron Fist Vitali Klitschko.

Last week we misstated that Klitschko was a member of the Tymoshenko bloc, the bYuT. He is instead the leader of his own bloc, Yellow PORA! or ПАРTIЯ ПОРА!, which while not specifically aligned with the bYuT also draws its roots from the Orange Revolution and is explicitly dedicated to stomping out corruption.

Chernovetsky seems to have been aided by the splitting of the anti-corruption vote. The ballot was a yard long (note the size in the accompanying picture) and included nearly 70 candidates. In addition the city’s low voter turnout, around 50%, indicates that not everyone agreed that the election was necessary. The Tymoshenko-led Parliament had called for the contest because of Chernovetsky’s alleged corruption charges. Perhaps the electorate was also turned off by the $100M spent by the collective candidates.

This Russia Today segment has a good video pre-election explanation of the confusing proceedings:

Klitschko will end up with a smaller percentage of votes this year than he did during his failed 2006 run as well as a much wider scale of defeat. Perhaps he will try again in 2010 when Chernovetsky’s original four-year term expires. In the meantime he will surely focus on his autumn 2008 return to the ring and his highly anticipated fight against Sam Peter.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Klitschko’s Second Mayoral Attempt TKOd

Image details: Samuel Peter v James Toney served by picapp.com

ESPN reports that www.jabandgrapple.com’s favorite mayoral candidate Vitali Klitschko has just accepted a future WBC heavyweight title fight against the self-proclaimed Nigerian Nightmare Samuel Peter. The match is scheduled to take place sometime this October with a site in Germany being the the likely location. Peter will probably fight an interim fight sometime the summer while Klitschko is kissing babies, giving platform speeches and engaging in anti-corruption debates.

Peter grabbed the WBC title last March when he violently dropped Oleg Maskaev in the sixth round of their bout. But even then Peter had only two things in mind: the Klitschko brothers. After the Maskaev fight he proclaimed “(They) are very good fighters, but for right now, I’m the best heavyweight in the world. I will fight them any time, anywhere. I’ll beat both of them on the same night. First the older one (Vitali), and then the other one (Wladimir).”

Well, Peter won’t get the chance to drop them in the same night although that would make for some compelling WWE-style television. Instead he’ll face the beltless Vitali who has been on self-imposed hiatus since 2004. Vitali is the Venus to his brother’s Serena and should be no walkover for the imposing Nigerian. Peter’s path is now set; he must run the Klitschko gauntlet. Defeat the older then avenge his only loss against the younger. If he does heavyweight glory will be his.

The return of Vitali combined with the promise of Sam Peter has gotten me a little exciting and hopeful. The heavyweight division has just become a little more entertaining.

Post from: EveryJoe

Vitali Klitschko Announces Ambitious Return to Ring