UKRAINE

Desperate Tymoshenko calls on aliens for support

Lacking support from both voters and politicians in Ukraine's 2010 presidential election, second-place candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has turned to the blue people of "Planet Pandora", ie, James Cameron's imagination, for support. Will the avatars win her the second round on Sunday? Read more and see the unlikely campaign clip...

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Lacking support from both voters and politicians in Ukraine's 2010 presidential election, second-place candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has turned to the blue people of "Planet Pandora", ie, James Cameron's imagination, for support. Will the avatars win her the second round on Sunday?

Although she made it to round two, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is seriously lagging behind bitter rival Viktor Yanukovich with ten per cent less of the vote after the first round on January 17. If things were going well, she'd have garnered the support of the politicians who she knocked out in round one. But incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko, who came in fifth place, doesn't want to see Tymoshenko take his place after a fall-out, and the two other failed candidates say they'd rather vote "Against all" (an option in Ukraine) than give their support to Tymoshenko.

Instead, she's had to resort to a bunch of blue aliens, a pair of hobbits and... the Pink Panther.

Her campaign team has posted clips from a number of Hollywood blockbusters, dubbed to fit the action-packed Ukrainian election tale. The storyline is always the same: baddies such as "orcs", vampires or ancient Persians are telling people to sell their votes to Viktor Yanukovich, when goodies (Corporal Jake Sully from "Avatar" or King Leonidas from "300") turn up and tell them to vote with their hearts instead.

The only video with a different plot is the Pink Panther remake - where Inspector Jacques Clouseau is playing Yanukovich himself: allegedly stupid, arrogant and not able to speak proper Ukrainian.

Avatars for Tymoshenko

Subtitles by FRANCE 24. Video posted by “zatymoshenko”.