Oleksandr Omelchenko Ready to be Deputy Premier

The Day contacted Mr. Omelchenko on May 26 and asked for comment. His answer rates an unabridged quotation: "When Mr. Kuchma and I were in Cherkasy oblast I told him precisely that the proposal sounded good, but that I would accept it only after winning the municipal elections, if the Kyivans have enough confidence in me as mayor. In that case I would agree to act as Mayor and as Prime Minister in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia (where I was born), and Chernihiv (where Mr. Kuchma was) oblasts, so I could provide the Kyivans enough food from the harvest. I will do so if I am offered the post after the elections."

So far Oleksandr Omelchenko seems to stand the better chance compared to the other candidates, and this is probably why the President has of late shown some sympathy with the acting mayor (incidentally, Hryhory Surkis would hardly risk the campaign unless given the nod by the chief executive). At an institution of higher learning, Mr. Kuchma, when asked whom he saw as the next mayor, replied, "The same person you do." (Oleksandr Omelchenko was on the podium among his retinue.) Mr. Omelchenko, however, does not think that the President supports him: "Leonid Kuchma is a citizen. He has the right to cast his secret ballot together with his family. He has no right to disclose who he will vote for, not until after the elections. Mr. Kuchma is also in an interesting position because the presidential campaign is underway. I think he takes a normal stand as an individual citizen and a principled one as President."

To make the municipal elections picture complete, the other candidates should be quoted. Mr. Surkis refused an interview with this newspaper, although the one Kievskie Vedomosti provides ample information. Among other things one learns that he had a hard childhood, wearing a coat made from his father's trench-coat and a pair of old pants. Fruit was seldom part of the family diet. Despite all this, the article insists, Mr. Surkis has made "an extremely successful businessman, strict administrator, a real taskmaster firmly resolved to win. Without him there would be no Dynamo team which is today the sole symbol of patriotism."

Hryhory Surkis is building his campaign on a "good bureaucrat or good manager" platform (meaning, of course, Omelchenko and himself), always stressing that he is an "official millionaire working 20 hours a day." Whether this will work in the campaign is anyone's guess, yet certain analysts agree that the Surkis campaign can be studied for the coming presidential one.