Tihipko was elected leader of the party Strong Ukraine in November 2009.
In January 2010, Tihipko declared "his team" will participate in the next Kiev local election.

Tihipko was a candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2010 presidential election.

Of the 18 presidential candidates, Tihipko has declared the biggest income to the Ukrainian election Committee.
He had an income of about $2.5 million in 2008 and told Kyiv Post he had spent roughly the same amount on his presidential campaign till December 2009. “
I will spend as much as I need.
This is my own money.”
Tihipko claims he has spent 90 million hryvnia (about $11 million) on his election campaign.

Tihipko was defeated in the first round of the presidential election, receiving 13.05% of the vote; two candidates (Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych) received more votes.

On 22 January 2010 Tihipko warned outgoing president Viktor Yushchenko could introduce a state of emergency during the transfer of power after the presidential election 2010.

Tihipko did not endorse a candidate for the run-off of the election.
He did state he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine under the new President whose program is close to him.
Tymoshenko did offer Tihipko to become Prime Minister if she would win the election.
While (then) candidate Victor Yanukovych stated that Tihipko and (another 2010 presidential candidate) Arseniy Yatseniuk would "have a good chance to be in the team that will unite Ukraine and will build our country together with me".

According to a poll by Research & Branding Group, as of 27 November Tihipko was running fifth in polls at 4.4%, behind Viktor Yanukovych (32.4%), Yulia Tymoshenko (16.3%), Arseniy Yatseniuk (6.1%) and Volodymyr Lytvyn (4.5%), and ahead of Petro Symonenko (3.8%) and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko (3.5%).

A poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine in late November placed him in third place at 7.4%, with 23% of the respondents stating that they consider Tihipko "a promising young politician whom they would like to see at the presidential elections."
Director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko thought that this third-place by Tihipko could be explained by the fact that some voters started to consider Tihipko not only an alternative to the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych, but as an alternative to fellow candidate Arseniy Yatseniuk.
According to a Russian poll taken in the last week of the campaign, Serhiy Tihipko was to be the unexpected outsider, snapping the second place from Tymoshenko.

According to the results of an exit poll initiated by the ICTV TV channel, Tihipko would have won the 2010 presidential election if had participated in the second round of the election.
Tihipko was elected leader of the party Strong Ukraine in November 2009. In January 2010, Tihipko declared "his team" will participate in the next Kiev local election.
Tihipko was a candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2010 presidential election.
Of the 18 presidential candidates, Tihipko has declared the biggest income to the Ukrainian election Committee. He had an income of about $2.5 million in 2008 and told Kyiv Post he had spent roughly the same amount on his presidential campaign till December 2009. “I will spend as much as I need. This is my own money.” Tihipko claims he has spent 90 million hryvnia (about $11 million) on his election campaign.
Tihipko was defeated in the first round of the presidential election, receiving 13.05% of the vote; two candidates (Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych) received more votes.
On 22 January 2010 Tihipko warned outgoing president Viktor Yushchenko could introduce a state of emergency during the transfer of power after the presidential election 2010.
Tihipko did not endorse a candidate for the run-off of the election. He did state he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine under the new President whose program is close to him. Tymoshenko did offer Tihipko to become Prime Minister if she would win the election. While (then) candidate Victor Yanukovych stated that Tihipko and (another 2010 presidential candidate) Arseniy Yatseniuk would "have a good chance to be in the team that will unite Ukraine and will build our country together with me".
According to a poll by Research & Branding Group, as of 27 November Tihipko was running fifth in polls at 4.4%, behind Viktor Yanukovych (32.4%), Yulia Tymoshenko (16.3%), Arseniy Yatseniuk (6.1%) and Volodymyr Lytvyn (4.5%), and ahead of Petro Symonenko (3.8%) and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko (3.5%).
A poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine in late November placed him in third place at 7.4%, with 23% of the respondents stating that they consider Tihipko "a promising young politician whom they would like to see at the presidential elections." Director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko thought that this third-place by Tihipko could be explained by the fact that some voters started to consider Tihipko not only an alternative to the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych, but as an alternative to fellow candidate Arseniy Yatseniuk. According to a Russian poll taken in the last week of the campaign, Serhiy Tihipko was to be the unexpected outsider, snapping the second place from Tymoshenko.
According to the results of an exit poll initiated by the ICTV TV channel, Tihipko would have won the 2010 presidential election if had participated in the second round of the election.
Serhiy Tihipko