Vitali Klitschko’s 100-day round

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko reported on his first 100 days in office on September 17, having taken over on June 25. The mayor declared: “Our team won this first round, these 100 days. We have done due diligence and know about the situation in the capital, have analyzed current events and drafted plans for the future.”

According to the capital’s mayor, this period saw new appointments to the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA)’s top posts, replacement of all district heads of the city and most top managers of the municipal utilities, while corrupt officials and representatives of the old regime have kept tendering their letters of resignation. According to the mayor, his team has managed to build a foundation for a transparent system of governance.

The Day asked expert at the Institute for Political Education Oleksandr Solontai for a comment on the work done by the new mayor and head of the KCSA.

“Against the previous administration’s background, Klitschko found it relatively easy to make his more transparent and open. He received legacy of Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky and KCSA head Oleksandr Popov. Looking at the KCSA building, thoroughly trashed during the Euromaidan events, Klitschko found his task easily understandable and clear, as he had to restore the municipal power, to rebuild the town hall, rehire employees and put them to work again. He and his team have coped with this task.

“The second point was to re-launch the Kyiv City Council, and Klitschko has failed at that. Although he had been a city councilor himself twice, he has proved not ready to lead a majority on the council. This applies to procedural matters of the council as well at the moment. Nevertheless, the website of the city council has begun to work more openly than before, as records and documents are published, and there are attempts to make resolutions public as well.

“Regarding the condition of the city, budget deficit, lack of funds and the war in the east give Klitschko handy excuses to delay a wholesale repair effort in Kyiv. Still, it cannot last forever, as the war has paused, and if he does not pay attention to it, he will lose his safe margin of support. The public support for Klitschko may collapse, should he come to be seen as a person who does little of value.

“His appointments look ambiguous, because he fires some corrupt officials, but puts in their places people with partially tarnished reputations. Some districts have got great people appointed as heads by him, for example Yaroslav Horbunov in Dniprovsky district, but on the other hand, some Klitschko’s appointees have dubious reputations.

“As for the external representation of Kyiv, Klitschko was ideally suited to the role of the capital’s face abroad, because he was a sports star. Unfortunately, he has been unable to fully realize this potential, because the information wave raised by the war in Ukraine has defined the world’s perception of our country.

“To go for a general assessment of Klitschko’s performance as Kyiv mayor, he might have done better if he entered a well-organized town hall. He might have achieved major changes over that time, starting with the Law ‘On the Capital.’ Klitschko has gone for very slow reforms and now faces public disapproval due to it. He ought to abolish all 10 district administrations and begin to create self-governing districts, as a response to the Euromaidan’s demand to promote popular participation in local authorities. The fact that the mayor is not moving this way is a major strategic mistake, and it cannot be compensated even by temporary economic successes.”