The registration of parliamentary candidates has just ended, and the election campaign in the Kirovohrad region is already in full swing. Some candidates, like Oles Dovhyi, actually began it back in August, capitalizing on the potential for congratulatory gifts during the August and September holidays. This is essentially the same as two years ago, when our region was politically cemented by a single team—the Party of Regions' five-member constituency (based on the number of single-member districts) led by then-head of the regional state administration, Serhiy Larin. Apparently, the situation hasn't changed dramatically since then: in rural areas, many are still ready to vote for buckwheat or plastic school windows (at least a bird in the hand!)...
There are some wonders, will there be a miracle?
Back in the summer, Oleksandr Yedin (Znamensky, 102nd constituency), a long-serving MP and member of virtually all the unified government teams, put up his campaign billboards. It's hard to believe that the fact that an enlarged image of his face was splashed with paint over his head was the reason he refused to re-enter the Verkhovna Rada, citing poverty and the lack of awareness in the steppe hinterland. However, he declined to run. The constituency was immediately "ridden" by Oles Dovhy, a member of Chernovetskyi's notorious team. The Kirovohrad region hasn't seen so much flak in the local media as this young candidate is heaping on his fellow countrymen (his grandfather and father are from our region) since the days of the "unified team."
Everything was supposed to go according to plan for Dovgyi. Yes, he failed to become the official candidate of Petro Poroshenko's bloc, but he managed to ensure the absence of a strong competitor from the pro-government bloc. Vadym Boyko, a Poroshenko supporter completely unknown in the Kirovohrad region, was completely lost in the crowd of four Viktor Boykos. A carefully crafted scenario included well-prepared and staged meetings with "grateful voters," images from which were supposed to be a powerful argument for those who had doubts but were ready to side with the majority.
But the plan unexpectedly fell apart in the district's center, the railroad town of Znamenka. In addition to loyal voters who had been bused in advance, those critical of the out-of-town candidate also showed up at the meeting. An attempt was made to bar them from the hall, and this triggered a general discontent. Oles Dovhyi was refused permission to speak, pelted with eggs, forced into a car, and shown the road: "Get out of Znamenka!" This event resonated widely not only within the district. The upheaval at the Central Election Commission involving another candidate in the same district, Oleh Dolhyi, received nationwide publicity. Young men with a distinctive appearance attacked him, forcing him to withdraw from the race. So that he wouldn't be mistaken for Dovhyi?
Oles Dovhyi's political strategists deserve credit. Even in such scandalous situations, they are trying to extract maximum benefit for their candidate. And now, local media are seeing an appeal from unknown (no names given) activists of the People's Front (?), led by Serhiy Libega, a previously unknown candidate for people's deputy in the Kirovohrad region, to Interior Minister Arseniy Avakov. They demand that he prevent Oleh Dolhyi, a former local water police officer who, according to the authors of the appeal, from receiving a mandate of public trust. This former government's biggest and most feared lackey, now a pensioner, is, as the appeal claims, destabilizing the situation in the district with the aim of suppressing the community's free choice of its representative in the Verkhovna Rada.
Of course, this appeal is a complete fake, preying on the ignorance and reluctance of many people to delve into the intricacies of the political process. And in the provinces, such people constitute the overwhelming majority.
They are also targeted by publications claiming that the Dovhyi family has long been acquainted with Poroshenko, and that Oles is effectively the president's handyman (who enjoys a fairly high level of support in the Kirovohrad region) in the district. So, too, are the numerologists' predictions, which (based on the candidates' birth dates) naturally concluded that Oles Dovhyi is the most suited to become a deputy.
It's entirely possible that all this could work, especially since Dovgyi has no serious opponent in the district. Kirovohrad Maidan host Andriy Lavrus could be a de facto alternative, but he has no experience, no team, and no money. Unless a miracle happens...
Father and son versus husband and wife
Something unexpected happened in the 99th district, centered in Kirovohrad. Back in September, the city was plastered with billboards featuring the portrait of incumbent MP Andriy Tabalov and a new message: "Non-partisan means close to the people!" Everyone perceived these words as the slogan for the new election campaign. But in late September, Tabalov publicly withdrew from the campaign. Some believe this was the right move, arguing that his chances were slim. Two years ago, he became a deputy after a fierce competition with Oleksandr Shatalov, the right-hand man of the then-head of the regional state administration (both he and Larin decided not to run in the single-member constituency and are ranked 30th and 6th respectively on the opposition bloc lists).
His and his father's (Oleksandr Tabalov was elected on the party list) exit from the Batkivshchyna faction at the beginning of the previous term caused a very loud scandal, and this image damage is still being felt to this day.
Now, another son, Maksym, a descendant of incumbent MP Stanislav Berezkin, a member of Larin's united team, is running in 99. He is the chairman of the local football club "Zirka," whose stadium has undergone extensive renovations in recent years, which is clearly seen as the most significant argument in the election campaign. And it will be an extremely fierce one, since Larisa Onul, an equally wealthy chairwoman of the city branch of the "UDAR" party and a Maidan activist who opposed the Party of Regions, is also running in the same constituency. She and her husband once belonged to the Party of Regions, but at the height of the last parliamentary election campaign, they joined the opposition to the then-government.
The fact that UDAR joined forces with Poroshenko's bloc in this election didn't stop Larisa Onul from running as an independent. The presidential bloc's official candidate is Petro Poroshenko's campaign manager, Kostiantyn Yarynych, chief physician of the regional oncology center. Having quickly risen to the regional political elite, he has virtually no skeletons in his closet, meaning he has a good chance of winning.
Maksym Berezkin's father, Stanislav Berezkin, didn't face any strong opponents from the current government in his 100th district. Neither the Poroshenko bloc, nor the People's Front, nor Svoboda nominated candidates. However, there was much talk about Stanislav Semenovych's own supposedly technical candidate—Svitlana Kurchenko, an employee of his structures. However, to the delight of the electorate, Berezkin did not lack a fierce opponent. That opponent was independent candidate Mykola Onul, the husband of Larisa Onul. At his very first press conference, he announced that he was supposed to be the official candidate from the Petro Poroshenko bloc, but at the last minute, he believes, Berezkin's representatives negotiated and he was removed from the list. This statement alone indicates that the race will be serious.
Another member of the unified team, Serhiy Kuzmenko, has been appointed head of the regional state administration, and his father, Anatoliy Kuzmenko, head of UkrAgroCom LLC, has been easily nominated in his place by the pro-presidential bloc. The other candidates are in a significantly weaker financial and political category. Another member of the unified team, Vitaliy Hrushevskyi, also hasn't given up hope of becoming a deputy in his district. However, his reckless behavior and gamble, which is incomprehensible to the general public, have damaged his chances so much that the odious MP's chances of winning are slim. Therefore, a large-scale struggle is unfolding here between several prominent figures—farmer and entrepreneur Oleh Golimbievskyi, the singing rector Mykhailo Poplavskyi, and Yuriy Lytvyn, a satellite of Ukraine's most needed speaker.
Kirovohrad politicians had no luck with their party lists. The only candidates who could be considered eligible were regional council chairman Oleksandr Chornoivanenko, who leads the local Batkivshchyna party and was 45th on its list, and city council member Oleksandr Gorbunov, 41st on the People's Front list.
Svetlana Orel, ZMirror of the Week. Ukraine
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