Yushchenko says will win presidential election despite low rating

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Sunday he was convinced he would win the presidential election despite his low rating.

Ukraine will hold a presidential election on January 17, 2010. The Central Election Commission has registered 18 presidential candidates, including current one Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, opposition Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych and parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

Polls indicate that Yanukovych and Tymoshenko are most likely to win, while Yushchenko would gain 5% of the votes.

"I will be the president. Any other path we are offered - be it Yanukovych or Tymoshenko - is a road to nowhere," the Unian news agency quoted Yushchenko as saying, RIA Novosti reported.

Yushchenko also said there is no difference between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych. "I have repeatedly said: these are two boots from one pair. One left, one right," he said, adapting a proverb.

But Tymoshenko said recently she would back Yushchenko in the upcoming presidential polls if she failed to get past the first round.

Currently Yushchenko's political rival, Tymoshenko also reiterated her readiness to "wash clothes in Yushchenko's staff." She first used the expression during the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought Yushchenko to power. Tymoshenko was then an ally of the incumbent president.