Sergey Levochkin
The monster is shabby, mischievous, enormous, hankering and barking
Alexander Radishchev, "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow"
Serhiy Lyovochkin, former head of the Presidential Administration, is unsure whether to run for the Verkhovna Rada or hold off. His hesitation stems from his extremely low approval ratings in his district. Lyovochkin himself will likely remain on the sidelines, having thrown his sister into the fray with the Opposition Bloc (OBLO).
Last week, Andriy Yermolayev, director of the New Ukraine Center for Strategic Studies, announced that Serhiy Levochkin does not intend to run in any constituency in the Mykolaiv region. Yermolayev did not explain the reasons for his de facto employer's decision, noting only that Levochkin's New Ukraine Foundation intends to conduct expert work in the region.
Previously, three potential constituencies were considered for Serhiy Levochkin's run for the Rada: 127, 128, and 132 (all three in Mykolaiv Oblast). However, according to sources in these constituencies, after the former head of the Presidential Administration's recognition was measured, his enthusiasm for the election waned.
"Levochkin's average across the districts is 3%," said one source in the former head of the Presidential Administration's structures.
Another source confirmed this figure and added that there is a 90% chance that Sergei Levochkin will not run in the majoritarian system.
"At least, there were no clear statements internally regarding his participation or non-participation in the majoritarian elections," the campaign official said.
Although he does have a chance, according to one Kyiv political strategist. "With such a figure (3% recognition) and sufficient funding, election experts believe it's possible to win the district, but the candidate will need the support of the administrative resources. It appears he (Levochkin) is trying to reach an agreement with Petro Oleksiyovych (Poroshenko)," the election expert opined.
However, even if he declines to participate in the elections, Sergei Levochkin's Opposition Bloc (OBLO) project will participate. As a reminder, the following parties are de facto members of this project:
1. Party of Development of Ukraine. This project is being spearheaded by Serhiy Larin, former governor of the Kirovohrad region and former deputy to Levochkin in the Presidential Administration. Last spring, he was even tipped to become head of the Presidential Administration. A merger of the PrU and the Party of Regions was planned, but the unclear situation in the east of the country and the low ratings of both the PrU and PrU forced the idea to be abandoned.
2. Party of Regions. The presence of former Kharkiv Oblast Governor Mykhailo Dobkin and the head of the Verkhovna Rada Healthcare Committee, Tatyana Bakhteyeva, in the top ten of the list is sufficient grounds for speculation that the Party of Regions is participating in this project. Although its leader, Boris Kolesnikov, and his senior partner, Rinat Akhmetov, have both stated that the Party of Regions will not participate in the elections, this is in response to Boris's statements that the Party of Regions is not running independently, something that both its leader, Boris Kolesnikov, and his senior partner, Akhmetov, have stated.
3. Ukraine Forward PartyA project by Natalia Korolevska, Minister of Social Policy in Mykola Azarov's Cabinet and, before that, a member of parliament from Batkivshchyna. After Korolevska's appointment to Azarov's government, the opinion persisted in narrow circles that Korolevska was a 100% protégé of Rinat Akhmetov.
4. Party "Labour Ukraine". Once the brainchild of Serhiy Tihipko, it was later placed under the tutelage of Valeriy Konovalyuk and merged with the Party of Regions in 2007. Valeriy Konovalyuk, a former member of parliament from the Party of Regions, ran for president of Ukraine in 2014. According to available information, his campaign was financed by forces close to the Kremlin.
5. Center Party Vadim Rabinovich. Eccentric politician Vadim Zinovievich received 2,25% of the vote in the presidential election on May 25, which can be considered a decent result.
6. New Politics Party Vladimir Seminozhenko, a former deputy prime minister, former head of the State Agency for Information Technology, etc. However, the party leader himself claims that he intends to run in the 168th district (Kharkiv).
7. Almost unknown to anyone Party of State Neutrality of Ukraine.
8. Industrial Ukraine Party, which is essentially a meeting of top managers of Akhmetov’s group of enterprises.
As we can see, Sergei Levochkin's list includes former Party of Regions members of all stripes. But the most important figure on the Opposition Bloc list is its top figure, former Deputy Prime Minister for Fuel and Energy, Yuriy Boyko.
It's worth recalling that at the dawn of Viktor Yanukovych's presidency, there was an informal group of influential figures—Serhiy Lyovochkin, Dmytro Firtash, Yuriy Boyko, and Valeriy Khoroshkovsky. Evil tongues even dubbed them the "Wonderful Four"—by analogy with the "Wonderful Seven" of the 90s, the last recognizable members of which were Viktor Medvedchuk and Hryhoriy Surkis.
But after Firtash sold Khoroshkovsky's stake in the Inter TV channel, relations between the four partners soured, and the group de facto ceased to exist. However, close communication between Boyko and Lyovochkin continued. "Our main oligarch is Lyovochkin, and our main puppeteer is Lyovochkin. Firtash is Lyovochkin's business arm. And Boyko was Lyovochkin's bureaucratic arm. Lyovochkin's influence remains; it hasn't gone anywhere," Ihor Kolomoisky, governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and currently the former head of the Presidential Administration's main rival, said in July of this year.
Sources close to the leaders of the newly formed alliance claim that the Opposition Bloc could enter the Rada, where it could merge with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and compete with Oleh Lyashko (who has recently been slipping out of his patron's control) and Yulia Tymoshenko. If this happens, Lyovochkin's sister, Yulia, will once again be in the Rada. And their family's work in the Rada will follow a well-established pattern.
To be continued
RBC-Ukraine
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