KIEV, Oct. 25 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, two of Ukraine’s most popular political figures, over the weekend formally announced their decisions to run for the presidency in January 2010.

Opinion polls suggest Yanukovych and Tymoshenko are likely to face off in a second round showdown in early February. The opposition leader is seen as a front-runner.

Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko, who will seek re-election, has low ratings and is expected to drop out in the first round, the polls suggest.

Yanukovych, 59, who was nominated as a candidate for the presidency at a congress of his Regions Party on Friday, lashed out at the government for running Ukraine into “bankruptcy” and for “compromising [the country] in the eyes of the world.”

"I can take Ukraine out of chaos, lawlessness and economic ruin only with the support of millions of our compatriots," Yanukovych said.

Tymoshenko was formally nominated at a rally in downtown Kiev attended by tens of thousands of her supporters at the Independence Square on Saturday.

Tymoshenko -- wearing a white dress embroidered with traditional patterns in a customary nod to Ukrainian folk traditions -- thanked her supporters and called on them to "pray for Ukraine."

"My country counts more for me than my life," Tymoshenko said, pledging to ensure that salaries and pensions were paid on time by the state.

"We do not have the right to be in confrontation with our neighbors. Our relations with Russia must be equal and worthy," Tymoshenko told the rally, while adding that Ukraine's path was towards the European Union.

In an attack on Yanukovych, she added: "Today the old teams want revenge. They want to return to power."

The Orange Revolution, which catapulted Yushchenko to the presidency in December 2004 when he had defeated Yanukovych, sparked hope that Ukraine would realize its full potential as a political and economic power.

But the country became stuck in a political impasse when Tymoshenko fell out spectacularly with pro-Western Yushchenko after her appointment as prime minister in 2005.

The economic crisis hit Ukraine harder than any other ex-Soviet state as its steel industry saw its export markets slump. The World Bank expects the economy to contract 15% this year.

Tymoshenko's popularity took a major dent with the economic crisis and she is trailing Yanukovych by up to 10 percentage points in the opinion polls. (tl/ez)