WBC Heavyweight Champion to Run for Presidency
Ukranian professional boxer and the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko has announced his desire to run for president in the 2015 Ukraine election during a speech on Thursday.
"I would like to declare that I am running for president," Klitschko said during a parliament session. His decision of running for presidency is backed up by his vision of putting an end to the dictatorial ruling of current president Victor Yanukovych.
Klitschko made the announcement as a reply to the Ukranian government's effort to pass a bill that could stop him from since he is a permanent resident of Germany. A law was passed stating that all individuals who have paid taxes abroad in recent years cannot obtain residency in Ukraine, and therefore, not qualified from holding high office.
"Dear voters, I want to announce that I will not be intimidated or stopped," said Klitschko during his speech. "Taking into account all the ruthless manipulations that are happening in parliament these days with texts of laws, backed by the ruling party representatives, this does not intimidate me," said the professional boxer.
Klitschko began his political career shortly after he retired in 2005. He tried to run for mayor but lost to Leonid Chernovetskyi. In 2008, he was appointed as the Ukranian delegate of the Congress of the Council of Europe. Currently, he is the leader of the political party Ukranian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), and he has remained a member of the Ukranian parliament since 2012. He is the first-ever professional boxer to have a PhD degree.
If Vitali wins the presidency election in 2015, he would not be the first sports athlete to hold elective office, but he may be the first one to win as a president. He certainly has political record so he should have a solid background, unlike those other professional athletes who held political offices but turned out to be lousy public officials. We wouldn't name them though.
Good luck to Vitali if he is really decided to run for president. It is still a long way until 2015. Klitscho may or may not change his mind, so will just keep you posted then.