A CHANCE!

The public now has to be especially attentive. Parties are compiling lists of candidates for the parliamentary elections, and young political parties and civic activists deserve a special attention. Most of them are seeking to become MPs, and rightly so. Almost everyone has already made their mind that the current Verkhovna Rada has to go. The Euromaidan events and the Russian aggression have proven it. How can new politicians get to the parliament?

Back when the Euromaidan was beginning last fall, The Day wrote that the best option is to bring together civic activists as a single structure in order to bring new quality to politics, but this has not happened. As a result, activists found themselves on the same side of the barricades, but in separate NGOs and political forces that began to take shape one by one during the protest or after the protesters’ victory.

Now, after the announcement of the early parliamentary elections, the young blood has got a chance. However, they have not managed to get the current MPs to change the electoral law, and therefore will compete according to the old one, adopted under Viktor Yanukovych. Till September 15 parties have to decide on their parliamentary candidates, and this process is ongoing as you read this article.

A young political force called the Samopomich (Self-Help) Union, led by Lviv mayor Andrii Sadovy, presented a partial list of its candidates on September 9. The second phase of its congress will be held before or on September 15. Somewhat surprisingly, it nominated as the first in the list a known civic activist, co-coordinator of the Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR) Hanna Hopko.

The second on the list is Pavlo Kyshkar, commander of the information warfare squad at the Donbas volunteer battalion; Oleksii Skrypnyk, an expert in information technology is the third; Oksana Syroiid, director of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation and an RPR expert is the fourth; Viktor Kryvenko, an expert in the field of military-industrial complex and economic strategies as well as an RPR expert is the fifth, while the sixth place is reserved for the political party Volia (Freedom), and will most likely go to Yehor Soboliev.

Declaration on the common list was signed by Samopomich and Volia parties, leading civic activists and experts. “We urge the public and journalists to analyze the list. We will finalize it in mid-September as we will wrap our congress up,” Sadovy stated.

“We are to bring to parliament a decent team, including experienced and professional people,” the list’s first number Hanna Hopko told the congress. “If we become MPs, parliament will be completely different. The Rada will finally serve the interests of the people and the country. We have joined together to create a team of hope and action that will employ new approaches to secure new quality of parliament. We are responsible for the outcome of the previous Ukrainian generations’ struggle. We face many challenges and a great opportunity. I believe that we can win and change this country.”