Electoral Heat
Even at the start of Verkhovna Rada by-elections, ending last Sunday, quite a few analysts predicted that the most political blood would be shed in Constituency No. 35 in the south of Dnipropetrovsk oblast. Their forecasts proved true only in part and the election day turned out remarkably peaceful, although political passions did boil Friday night after the district election committee had struck from the lists one of the favorites, former People’s Deputy Oleksandr Zhyr. The decision was made on the strength of the rulings of the regional appellate and Nikopol city courts, confirming excessive campaign funding. As hard as the former candidate and his powerful team of backers (from Our Ukraine) tried, they could not contest and overrule the adjudication. After that the elections in Constituency No. 35 lost any intrigue and Oleksandr Zhyr’s campaigners left. Valentyn Talikov of the district election committee explained to The Daythat the candidate and his team had repeatedly transgressed the election rules during the campaign, but that DEC had allegedly shown a tolerant attitude. Still, the committee could not ignore the court rulings, even though everybody understood that eliminating his candidacy would cause political reverberations.
As it was, the election day passed without much ado in the constituency, except for a press conference held by the Voters’ Committee of Ukraine where its first deputy chairman Yevhen Poberezhny declared that his organization was recalling its observers from all the other constituencies. The Voter’s Committee was dissatisfied by the election committee’s performance where, according to observers, interested persons had a hard time accessing documents and other pertinent information. Still, ECU statement left the election committee undisturbed and its chairman Stanislav Shvets rejected all accusations.
Nor did the election turnout cause a sensation, naming Viktor Drachevsky, chief of the regional criminal militia, Zhyr’s principal rival at the constituency since the March elections. Estimates show that Viktor Drachevsky collected 42%.
Whether or not Oleksandr Zhyr was struck from the candidate lists for good reason, what happened could not but acquire a political coloration, because the man had been too outspoken in accusing the local authorities of all kinds of sins.
In Constituency No. 18 (Vinnytsia oblast) the elections were won by Mykola Odainyk, resident of Yalanets, a village in Tomashpil district, CEO of the agricultural enterprise Yalanetske. Monday estimates pointed to 42.8%. Many were surprised by the turnout in Constituency No. 201 (Cherkasy oblast), naming former Deputy Nestor Shufrych of SDPU(o) the winner. A closer look, however, shows that his victory was only to be expected. One local functionary said that “our people became tired of choosing between people representing extreme ideologies and extreme personalities.” Natalia Vitrenko came second (19.5%) and Our Ukraine’s Mykola Bulatetsky third (12.6%). Also, local election committees ousted several candidates in every constituency for some reason or another. Some of the candidates pulled out (5 in 3 constituencies stepped down on the last day of the campaign). What made them withdraw is anyone’s guess, but many say that such decisions are made for reasons having little to do with ideology.
Nevertheless, Mykhailo Riabets, chairman of the central election committee, told a press conference that Sunday that no complaints had been filed by 5 p.m..
Practically all the analysts agree that the by-elections will be followed by countless lawsuits and proceedings at all levels, including the European one. It is also true, however, that the principal claimant, Oleksandr Zhyr, told Ukrainska pravda (pravda.com.ua) that he will not contest the election turnout, because “at this stage we must concentrate on changing the political system in this country.” In the context of interfactional migration in Verkhovna Rada, the by-elections were far from an epochal event, although the fractions receiving the new winners will surely try to put them to good use.
