Local elections: five indicators

These local elections were highly thought-provoking, for politicians and voters alike. Of course, the turnout was of great interest. According to the Central Election Commission, it stood at 46.62 percent overall. While it would probably be seen as nothing out of the ordinary for consolidated democracies of the West, it is very telling in this country, since it shows that post-Euromaidan politicians were able to fritter away in a short time the hopes of people who through great sacrifices brought them to power. Traditionally, the highest turnout was in Galicia, where it stood at 56.50 percent in Ternopil oblast and 56.31 percent in Lviv oblast. Turnout over 50 percent was also recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Khmelnytsky, Rivne, and Vinnytsia oblasts. As little as 41.87 percent voted in Kyiv. Turnout was at its lowest at the polling stations in Donetsk (31.65 percent) and Luhansk (35.27 percent) oblasts. Distrust and frustration of voters has been a key reason for the lack of reforms in this country, but it derives itself from the government’s desire to stay in the old coordinate system, which creates great risks and problems for the nation.

The vast majority of experts noted the political parties’ failure to discuss local problems during the election campaign. In fact, all the slogans and propaganda concerned national issues. “Unlike during national elections, I do not expect any comprehensive improvement now, but rather an improvement of living conditions in my hometown,” Nazar Prykhodko from Kyiv told The Day. “Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, but its infrastructure and landscape are veritable ‘Augean stables,’ which have been in dire need of a cleaning from the time of Leonid Kosakovsky, the first post-Independence mayor. Unfortunately, both mayoral and council candidates paid little attention to it. They tried to lure voters with slogans related to the national policies and very far removed from the city’s own issues. This is the main problem, and not only in Kyiv.”

According to the exit poll conducted by the Social Monitoring Center and commissioned by the Committee of Voters, winner of the mayoral election was Vitali Klitschko with 40.4 percent, but he did not get enough votes to avoid a run-off. However, we still do not know who will be Klitschko’s opponent in the second round because the results of his pursuers are too close to call. Volodymyr Bondarenko of Fatherland received around 8.7 percent of the vote, Oleksandr Omelchenko of Unity party            – 8.1 percent, Serhii Husovsky of Self Reliance – 8 percent, and Boryslav Bereza from the Party of Resolute Citizens – 7.5 percent. In the city council election, the five-percent barrier has been cleared by five political forces: Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc Solidarity with 28.3 percent, Self Reliance with 10.3 percent, Fatherland with 10.1 percent, Freedom with 9.7 percent, and Unity with 8.3 percent. The Party of Resolute Citizens is on the verge of clearing the barrier at 4.8 percent.

“Local retirees voted for Oleksandr Vilkul, thus effectively supporting Rinat Akhmetov,” Dnipropetrovsk businessman Yurii Fomenko commented for The Day. “They believe that by voting for Vilkul, they vote for the USSR’s rebirth. Our soldiers are totally shocked. They say openly that they departed for the front from a normal city, but returned to Vilkul’s fief, belonging to the same Vilkul who propagated separatism, beat up kids and stole municipal property. He has not been brought to court on any charge, while trying to represent Dnipropetrovsk, the city which until recently was a symbol of patriotism and indomitable spirit. The people’s basic mood is inability to understand what is happening, for they see clearly the pro-presidential Solidarity working with the Opposition Bloc. The Solidarity itself has a large number of former Party of Regions’ members on its list. The danger of the Regionnaires’ return to power not only exists, it is so clear that many people are just losing all hope.”

Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

However, there were bright spots in these elections as well. We did see some light at the end of the tunnel. A positive phenomenon in this election was the outcome of the vote in Hlukhiv, Sumy oblast. The Day repeatedly covered the bitter struggle in the ancient Hetmanate capital and called on Ukrainian and international media to pay attention to this city. Now, we can report a triumphal victory for Michel Terestchenko, a scion of the famous Ukrainian aristocratic family, who received 64.58 percent of the vote according to preliminary data from his electoral headquarters. Terestchenko’s main competitor, current mayor Yurii Burlaka, who had been a member of the Party of Regions and ran as the candidate of the People’s Will in this election, representing local political boss Andrii Derkach, got 31.2 percent. Such examples cannot help but inspire. Terestchenko’s coming positive work as the mayor is likely to become an example for the entire country. It will raise hopes as well, of course.

How these local elections were special? What are the latest results? What to expect? Read The Day’s experts’ comments.

Yevhen HOLOVAKHA, deputy director of the Institute of Sociology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, professor:

“I consider these local elections to be defining in many regards. Were the fundamental changes in Ukraine to happen, they would come from local authorities. In our country we have always thought the national elections to be more prominent and regarded the local ones as secondary. In fact, true democracy emerges from below. On lower levels an opportunity arises for genuine fulfillment; people are able to observe and control the movements of the authorities directly. A revolution is known to encourage social mobility, thus it will be very good if our recent Revolution would elevate educated and professional people, who are focused on solving community issues rather than personal ones. I have always paid the most attention to local elections, and I think these particular elections have taken us one step further towards democracy, in spite of the many problems that arose. The people elected on lower levels will be the candidates to rise up in the future.

“We had a flawed tradition, when Verkhovna Rada had been composed of personal drivers, bodyguards, children, relatives, and companions of those who donated money for some political advantages. In fact, those people only fulfilled the will of their employers. However, parliament really has to include administrators, managers, and local politicians. I always remember the example of the US, where no person would emerge at the high office from nowhere. No one there will become a senator without going through the system of local elections first. That’s how Obama came to power, beginning as a volunteer in his home city. He was eventually noticed by the party bosses, and gradually became Senator and later President. This is the true and natural way. Therefore, society should pay special attention to local elections, although the people have yet to understand it. The insufficient turnout on these elections signifies this lack of understanding.

“The politicians have chosen to focus on the nationwide issues for the local elections because the society is yet uncertain about the national strategy. In the circumstances of war it is very difficult to distance oneself from national issues. However, had they paid more attention to the local issues, the turnout would have been higher. Another factor was the professional qualities of the politicians. Things will be good if we learn to distinguish serious people.

“As for the so-called ‘fixed matches’ and statements about these elections being the final stage of rebooting the authorities, let the politicians speak what they want, but there is the reality. I was a member of many shows on television. I have seen how fierce political rivals challenged each other on screen and how friendly did they hug each other off camera. A country like ours, which has a high level of corruption, faces great difficulties in breaking such ties. There are examples of politicians like this, who are seemingly mutually antagonist, but have a joint business interest elsewhere. And it is they who have to understand that this principle of the social estates has to be changed. Otherwise, they would not have any future in our country as well.”

Anatolii BOIKO, head of the Odesa regional organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine:

“We had calm voting in Odesa city and Odesa region. At the same time, we are concerned with numerous cases of photographing ballots at polling stations in Odesa. Many took these photos to get a discount or free coffee in several local cafes, but we suspect that some of these cases had to do with electoral bribery.

“There were also cases of carousel voting, illegal issuance of ballots, problems with voter lists. OPORA observers documented some procedural violations at 40 percent of polling stations. However, in my opinion, these violations were similar to those committed in the elections of previous years.

“It is hard to discuss preliminary results of the elections so far, because exit polls’ results were released without their sample sizes and error margins, making their reliability unclear. Personally, I was surprised by a quite low result achieved by Odesa mayoral candidate Eduard Hurvits. It is estimated at no more than 10 percent currently. Sitting mayor Hennadii Trukhanov is getting about 50 percent of the vote so far in the ongoing vote count, while his opponent Sasha Borovik received about 30 percent. The crucial question is Trukhanov’s end result. It will determine whether we will see a run-off in the mayoral election.

“Voter turnout in the Odesa region was 41.87 percent. This low activity level of citizens was linked to stupid and meaningless nature of this electoral campaign. Politicians have failed to convince Odesites to come to the polls and vote for them.”

Maksym YELIGULASHVILI, Kherson coordinator of long-term observation for OPORA NGO network:

“Most electoral violations in Kherson region were caused by poor methodological and technical training of election commissions. The issues included ignorance of the Law ‘On Local Elections,’ insufficient funding, tight deadlines for making ballots, transferring them to polling stations and appropriate acceptance of them. We have also documented cases of electoral bribery and attempts to rig elections. There were also attempts to organize so-called ‘carousel voting’ and bus in loyal voters. However, the centralized administrative pressure had no systemic impact on the electoral process.

“We have documented cases of campaigning ads still present at polling stations on the election day. Many voters in Kherson, Kakhovka, and Nova Kakhovka reported receiving SMS with calls to vote for certain candidates on their phones. Many billboards in the region and city of Kherson carried ads that included branding features of political parties participating in these elections, but lacked direct propaganda content. Parties that resorted to such manipulative technologies included Our Land, Renaissance, Opposition Bloc, and All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland.

“According to the regional department of internal affairs, the police received 38 reports of electoral law violations on the election day, and they are investigating all these reports. According to our observations, the police quickly responded to reports coming from polling stations, both in Kherson and other cities of the region. We have observed high-level interaction between law-enforcement bodies and election commissions and other subjects of the electoral process.

“It may be noted that election commissions sometimes neglected proper vote count procedures and made mistakes. For example, Nova Kakhovka city commission accepted packages with unsigned and unstamped documents.

“The voters’ attitude to elections was also far from uniform. When counting ballots, officials saw a lot of them covered with abusive inscriptions instead of required marks, as well as ballots without marks or with multiple marks. Some voters were too emotional during the voting because of their dissatisfaction with the polling stations’ work.”

Interviewed by Maria HENYK, Odesa