UKRAINIAN REGIONAL
REPORT
Election
Newsletter-2002
February 18th 2002
Issue #2
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This project was
supported
by the Democracy Fund of the U.S. Embassy,
Kyiv
The views of the authors do not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S.
Government
The project "Ukrainian Regional Report" was supported by the International Renaissance Foundation
URR Editor:
Laryssa Mudrak
Newsletter Editor:
Iryna
Solonenko
Translation and language editing:
Halyna Balanovych &
Paul Miazga
Contributors:
Ivan Kostiuk
Oleh
Sosniuk
Svitlana Hrytsay
Viacheslav Skichko
Volodymyr Prytula
Maksym Mykhailenko
Viktor Borysov
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Sumy RegionIn Sumy, the regional candidates’ registration has been completed. Four out of the candidates are acting members of parliament, including one who sat during the previous sitting of the Verkhovna Rada. Four deputy assistant positions are up for re-election. As to the candidates` occupations, most of those registered are managers or executives, followed by party officials, academics and two legal experts. In general, forty-three candidates were nominated by thirteen parties or party-blocks. In every regional constituency there are from four to six representatives of Our Ukraine, For a United Ukraine and Mrs., Vitrenko`s blocks and one or two from the Farmers Party, The Social -Democrats (United), Rukh, Unity and the Rus` block. Twenty-two candidates will stand as independents.
The most serious contenders for the Sumy mayor post are Mr. A. Andronov and Mr. A. Bondar. Different political forces support them: The Socialist Party of Ukraine, Motherland and Unity back Mr. Andronov. Mr. Bondar is supported by For a Unified Ukraine, Our Ukraine and the Pensioners Party. He is currently the deputy head of the regional state administration.
Zaporizhzhya Region
Representatives of the Zaporizhzhya election committee held a meeting with the registered candidates and any persons empowered to act for them. The deputy head of the committee, Mr. P. Pshenychniy, clarified the regulations regarding election campaign financing. State budget funds can be spent on printing 2,000 posters for each candidate (730 will be allocated to polling stations, 5 - for each), publication of the candidate’s election pledges and for 10 minutes of on-air broadcasting on regional TV and radio stations. Personal funds from any candidate cannot exceed 170,000 hryvnyas and one-time expenses cannot exceed 17,000 hryvnyas. Two essential requirements must be met, namely mass media agreement and pre-payment for every publication.
Cherkasy Region
The struggle for the post of Cherkasy mayor has become more acute as Borys Raykov, the regional council deputy and chairman of the AZOT chemical enterprise supervisory board, was nominated as a mayoral contender. Before that he was put on the vote in regional constituency # 200 as a candidate for Member of Parliament. Volodymyr Oliynyk, acting mayor of Cherkasy, has been already competing against two fierce competitors and commented on this move. “A businessman who comes to power would inevitably work to expand his business,” the mayor claimed. Another contender, Anatoliy Voloshyn, in his turn blamed city authorities for eight years of budget mismanagement. In particular, he presented the case of how 70 million hryvnyas in commercial land leases was withheld. It must be noted that Mr.Voloshyn regularly appears on regional state TV channels and Mr.Raykov is a co-owner of the biggest regional station, “ VIKKA” TV, while Mr. Oliynyk, on the other hand, has no access to regional TV. Not to be left out, Mr. Hryhoriy Sas`ko, head of the Prydniprovsky district council, is also running for the post of mayor.
The organization For a Unified Ukraine in Cherkasy region claims that prices will not go up and may even fall once a sufficient number of their candidates enter the Verkhovna Rada and form a constructive parliamentary majority. That was the promise from Ivan Kyrylenko, the Minister of Agriculture. Kyrylenko leads the electoral headquarters of the For a United Ukraine block. He made the statement on the 9th of February in Cherkasy. This block made another noteworthy suggestion when Borys Raykov (nominated in constituency #200 as mentioned above) put forward a proposal to share half of the salary from a successful block candidate with regional hospitals. Volodymyr Lukyanets, head of the regional state administration, seconded this proposal, saluted the block and the two deputies Anatoliy Rybak and Serhiy Tereshchuk of For a United Ukraine who also voted for it. This notwithstanding, Mr. Lukyanets stated that administrative resources would not play as essential of a role in these elections. Minister Kyrylenko claimed that their 5-party political block would be transformed after the elections into one party and would be chaired by the president of Ukraine.
Zhytomyr Region
The Zhytomyr regional home policy department conducted a poll on the public’s enthusiasm for the upcoming elections. According to the survey, of 374 respondents, 80 per cent said they would cast a vote, 10 per cent were undecided and 8 per cent were not interested in voting. Also according to the survey, 15 per cent of respondents are in favor of Women For the Future, 14 per cent are in favor of V. Yushchenko`s Our Ukraine block and 12 per cent support The Communist Party of Ukraine. Among candidates in constituency #64, V. Rozvadovskiy, the acting MP, is leading with 18 per cent support, followed by the communist M. Tymoshenko who has13 per cent and For a Unified Ukraine candidate, A. Petrenko, who’s popularity is at 11 per cent. The number of undecided respondents was 12 per cent.
Chernivtsi Region
The All-Ukrainian Christian Union (headed by Valeriy Babych, president of Ukrainian Financial Group) has been actively carrying out its election campaign. Behind the active show business tactics demonstrated by Maryan Gadenko, the #2 man in the party list, Gadenko’s local popularity is aided by the fact that he was born in Chernivtsi, is a police colonel, an ex-deputy police minister and is now an Honored Artist of Ukraine. Gadenko has also produced several popular pop singers and is the organizer behind the DOLYA song festival. In addition to this, a number of the party’s TV advertisements are often broadcast on the three top regional TV channels.
The All-Ukrainian Christian Union has three competitors in the regional showbiz market. They are the United Social Democrats, the National Movement of Ukraine (chaired by Boyko) and For a Unified Ukraine. The Social Democrats are fond of bringing “ĘÂÍ” teams to Chernivtsi (“ĘÂÍ” is a Russian acronym for Club of Merry and Smart Young People, a popular Soviet time entertainment show). Incidentally, the last such KBH team to visit Ukraine was from Belarus (Minsk). Boyko`s National Movement is represented in the region by the regional head of government, H. Philipchuk, who financed a display of Bukovyna artists’ creations in the central picture gallery of Chernivtsi. As to the For a Unified Ukraine, they made their mark by paying for the supplies and materials of young Chernivtsi painters.
Ivano-Frankivsk Region
Regional businessmen are renouncing the election race. The regional chairman of the Our Ukraine election campaign, Olexander Sych, reports that some of the candidates, regional businessmen, previously eager to stand for office have now refused. They claim that heavy pressure is being put on them from regional and district state authorities and tax and law enforcement employees.
Kyiv
City and district council personnel willing to participate in the election race have had to take unpaid leave since 11th of February. This was specified by Kievan mayor Olexander Omel`chenko in a recent administrative decree and it applies to the following candidates: T. Strokan`, the head of Holosiyiv state administration (constituency #216), M. Kyrylyuk, the head of Darnytsya state council (constituency # 212), two first deputies of the city state administration, S. Stashevskiy (constituency #217) and I. Fomenko (constituency #223), and two others, namely Omel`chenko`s deputies M. Pidmohyl`niy (constituency #218) and I. Shovkun (multi-mandate constituency).
Sevastopol`
There are 104 candidates standing for positions in Sevastopol` city council. According to the local CONTINENT radio station (aired on the 13th of February), during the last session of the city’s election committee, 50 additional candidates were registered. This is in contrast to the first session, when five candidates were registered to go with the 43 others who were registered during the second session. As of today, the total stands at 104 and registration is still going on. In each of the 75 electoral districts, the communist party has made it onto the ballot. Currently, two thirds of them are acting city deputies-other political parties are clearly lagging behind. The city election committee forecasts that no less than 500 candidates in total will be registered.
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