The election in Obukhiv: trends

The opposition has failed another exam. The mayoral election in the town of Obukhiv in the Kyiv oblast has demonstrated the probable developments during the future parliamentary election. By the way, it is possible that it was the rehearsal before the mayoral election in Kyiv that may be held in the summer. Due to the fact that the opposition could not agree on the common candidate the representative of the Party of Regions Oleksandr Levchenko won in Obukhiv.

According to the simultaneous poll by the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Levchenko was supported by 38.6 percent of electors, Halyna Starykova from Fatherland party received 21.8 percent of votes, and Anatolii Shafranenko from UDAR got 17.7 percent of votes. However, we were informed in UDAR’s press office that, according to their information, the candidate from Vitali Klitschko’s party took the second place and the representative of the Party of Regions won because the opposition refused to support the candidate from UDAR, so the opposition votes dispersed.

Ironically, just before the election in Obukhiv, Den hosted a roundtable where the participants tried to formulate the new agenda for the society. The parliamentary election was one of the major questions. The politicians speculated a lot about how the alternative politicians can enter the parliament and what should be done for this. By the way, Andrii Senchenko from Fatherland party was asked about the sacrifice their party would be ready to make to help the opposition win the election. His reply was unclear.

The mayoral election in Obukhiv showed that the theory was not backed by deeds. It is significant that, according to the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the turnout of voters was slightly higher than 40 percent.

On the polling day the opposition informed about numerous violations. The coordinator of the civil movement “Spilna Sprava” [Common Cause. – Ed.] Oleksandr Danyliuk declared that they had detected the use of the so-called “blue sweater” technology (ballots were given to the people without local registration or even ID) at over two thirds of polling stations. Moreover, he informed that the monitoring group had found out about the direct bribery of voters under the guise of exit-poll. The party UDAR also informed about the “carousel” voting at the election in Obukhiv. At the same time the police disprove this information.

The significant and even blatant incident during the election in Obukhiv was the conflict between the opposition MP Iryna Herashchenko and Petro Melnyk from the Party of Regions. The latter used force to take Herashchenko away from the polling station. Herashchenko said that after several phone calls and complaints about violations during the election she came to the polling station No. 13 and registered herself according to the law. Later Melnyk came there and “just took me by the throat and threw out from the polling station.”

“This shameful incident happened in front of the teachers of the local school and international observers,” Herashchenko commented the situation to The Day. “By the way, Melnyk is the chancellor of the National University of the State Tax Service of Ukraine. I am waiting for his public apologies. I think that this person has no place in politics at all. The most shameful in this story is the fact that we speak different languages with the Party of Regions. I have never addressed Melnyk before this incident. However, after this event I told him ‘You are a complete boor! There is no other name for your behavior!’ I want to address all the Ukrainian voters: do not vote for such boors! Melnyk’s behavior is the display of impunity and lack of culture. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that such violation of women is becoming the philosophy of the party at power. If the prime minister says that women’s place is in the kitchen, such behavior demonstrates it well. Later all the teachers came to me and told that they were afraid of them considering what they were doing with their colleagues.”

We have addressed Petro Melnyk as well. His press secretary told us that he would call us back after the meeting, however, he never did. When we tried to call again, we did not get any reply at all. Instead, at the website of the Tax Academy (http://asta.edu.ua) in the rubric “About me” Melnyk has written the following: “Before someone starts criticizing my work I would like to remind the words of famed Ovid: ‘I have done my best, let those who can do better.” Later the press office of the Party of Regions informed that Melnyk admitted that his behavior was incorrect. “Certainly, I was wrong and treated the woman incorrectly. However, Iryna Herashchenko was wrong too, since she refused to comply with the decision of the polling station commission to leave the premises and not to impede the work of the commission. By the way, on the video spread on the Internet it is impossible to hear that she called me a boor,” the MP remarked. Poor Ovid.