Page 9 - UKRRptJul20
P. 9
will be critical to mitigate economic risks and lay the ground for stabilization and recovery.”
2.3 Race for October local elections heats up
Preparations for this October’s local elections are slowly heating up as Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” party announced it would hold primaries, with between four to six people, to find its candidate for the Kyiv race.
From Poroshenko’s “European Solidarity” party to the pro-Russian "Opposition Platform — For Life," the entire Ukrainian political scene sees in the upcoming local elections the first real opportunity to strike back against the outsider who unexpectedly swept up the presidential seat last year (Ukrainska Pravda). They all have reasons to be optimistic:
Petro Poroshenko succeeded in positioning himself as the main opponent to Zelensky, and in consolidating around him a conservative, nationalist-minded electorate that tends to reject the current president. The first victim of this consolidation has been the Golos party, which never really managed to set itself apart from European Solidarity and has slowly declined in the polls over the past year.
Yuliya Tymoshenko maintains a powerful, well-oiled and well-financed party apparatus with a solid regional implementation.
Like the other parties, the Opposition Platform hopes to rally voters against Zelensky’s lack of results and regain ground in its southern and eastern turfs. Zelensky himself remains by far Ukraine's most popular politician but, compare to last year’s parliamentary election, it’s not a given that the president’s popularity will automatically transfer to candidates in the regions.
Here are the party ratings among decided voters, as collected by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KMIS) in late April. Keep in mind that this poll asked about parliamentary elections – it gives us an idea of the national trend but in many cities, personality and local networks count much more than party affiliation.
29.9% – Servant of the People (Oleksandr Kornienko)
15.8% – Opposition Platform — For Life (Vadim Rabinovich/Yuriy Boyko/Viktor Medvedchuk)
13.5% – European Solidarity (Petro Poroshenko)
11.6% – Fatherland (Yuliya Tymoshenko)
6.9% – Strength and Honor (Ihor Smeshko)
4.7% – Svoboda (Oleh Tyahnybok)
3.6% – Shariy Party (Anatoliy Shariy)
2.8% – Golos (Kira Rudyk)
2.4 Ukraine’s rich list returns
Ukraine’s politicians published their income declarations in May, a now-traditional exercise that has since 2016 often combined suspiciously-acquired wealth with legally-required transparency.
9 UKRAINE Country Report July 2020 www.intellinews.com
