The number "6" and everything associated with it doesn't enjoy much respect among the public. It's ascribed a devilish quality, branded as unprincipled sycophants and sycophants, and associated with all sorts of misfortunes and disasters. At the same time, numerologists respect this number, sincerely believing in its charm. In the midst of the election campaign, KV decided to analyze the sixth numbers on party lists and find out why being a six is advantageous in politics.
About the number “6”
The first thing that comes to mind when someone hears someone called a "sixer" is the thieves' term for a six. According to the "Table of Ranks in the Criminal Community" compiled by criminal subculture researcher Yuri Alexandrov, "sixers" are considered one of the lowest groups among prisoners, and therefore, in the hierarchical structure of the criminal underworld, they are relegated to the role of servants. If we study the etymology of the term "sixer" in criminal slang, we can discover that its origin is directly related to a deck of 36 cards, with 6 being the lowest.
In religious circles, 6 is considered the so-called Number of the Beast. This special number, mentioned in the Bible, conceals the name of the apocalyptic beast, the embodiment of Satan's minion. The Number of the Beast is 666. It is a frequently used element of Satanic symbolism, along with the inverted cross and the inverted pentagram.
But despite all the negativity, astrologers and numerologists love the number six. According to their classic definition, six is a number of colossal charm. Its patron is Venus. The number is imbued with love and passion. However, sixes lack pragmatism and are prone to squandering their earnings or the wealth of others.
Sixth on the lists
Over the past 10 years, there has been virtually no resistance to the number six in Ukrainian politics. Many politicians believed that being sixth on the electoral list was not shameful, but rather highly honorable.
"Sixth place on a popular party's list is a guaranteed seat in parliament. I don't know of any cases where someone refused it simply because six is a bad number. The only one that comes to mind is the Party of Regions. Whether it was because Yanukovych was well-versed in slang and didn't want to offend anyone, or because the Party of Regions bigwigs themselves didn't want to see their names next to the number six, or for some other unknown reason, sixth place on the Party of Regions lists often went to women and the elderly. On the 2006 list, it was assigned to Raisa Bogatyreva, in 2007 to Mykola Azarov, and in 2012, sixth place was given to Iryna Akimova," political analyst Konstantin Novopolsky told KV.
Meanwhile, an analysis of the current election campaign has shown that the country's political elite's attitude toward the number six has changed. On the lists of conditionally eligible parties, sixth place went primarily to activists and "first-timers," whose names are far from familiar to everyone in our country. Established politicians, however, chose to forgo this spot, settling comfortably before and behind the "sixes."
New faces
In the Poroshenko Bloc, sixth place goes to military pilot Yuliy Mamchur, famous for organizing a march featuring the national anthem in front of the vanguard of armed "little green men" in Crimea. Average voters have mixed feelings about Mamchur. Many sincerely consider him a hero. There's also a skeptical opinion, claiming the commander's move was motivated solely by selfish motives. Meanwhile, in defiance of Mamchur, some point to the Feodosia marines, who refused to allow outsiders onto their unit's territory until the very end and made no attempt to draw attention to the rescue of their personnel through public protests.
Yulia Tymoshenko invited Vadym Ivchenko, head of the executive board of the All-Ukrainian Association of Settlement and Village Heads, to fill the sixth seat in Batkivshchyna. As KV has discovered, Mr. Ivchenko is a current deputy of the Bila Tserkva City Council from the Yanukovych-loyal New Policy party (leader Volodymyr Seminozhenko). Before joining Seminozhenko, Ivchenko served in the leadership of the Kyiv regional branch of Viktor Baloha's United Center.
Among Lyashko's Radicals, sixth place goes to political scientist Ihor Popov, former head of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, and former representative of President Yushchenko in parliament. Some media outlets have called him Serhiy Lyovochkin's man. Popov himself considers this to be slander from his enemies and prefers to refrain from commenting on the matter. In 2011, Popov was appointed by Yanukovych as deputy head of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service. In 2010, he became one of the leaders of Viktor Baloha's United Center party.
Anatoly Gritsenko He gave the sixth spot on his "Civic Position" party list to Petro Landyak. Mr. Landyak is a long-time member of the Ternopil City Council, head of the local branch of "Civic Position," and director of the food retailer "Universam Texterno." According to KV, Ternopil residents have had mixed reactions to their fellow countryman's foray into big politics. Some consider him a decent person and a good businessman, while others call him a crook who attempted to establish kickback schemes in the city's housing and communal services, and even accuse him of supplying rotten cabbage to local schools.
Serhiy Tihipko's Strong Ukraine party placed Yevhen Zhadan, the head of the local party organization, in sixth place. This candidate is the director (general manager) of the Alef Vinal alcohol company (brands of Jean-Jacques and Klinkov cognacs, and Helsinki and Ukrainochka vodkas). The company is owned by a Dnipropetrovsk businessman. To Vadim Ermolaev, which the media lists as a sponsor of the “Strong Ukraine” project.
Verified personnel
From Svoboda, sixth place went to Volyn MP Anatoliy Vitiv, who occupied the same position on the party list in the 2012 elections.
Yatsenyuk and Turchynov's People's Front gave the number six to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, while the Opposition Bloc sent Serhiy Larin, leader of the Party of Development of Ukraine, to sixth place. It's worth noting that the number six is significant for the newly minted oppositionists, as it represents six political projects united under this banner.
"In a situation where everyone is trumpeting the need for immediate personnel changes, politicians believe that faces unfamiliar to most Ukrainians should demonstrate the progressiveness of the parties. However, the window dressing method is a very old one. From campaign to campaign, we see figures who, again, according to politicians, can be considered popular with the masses, acting as barge haulers. These people are recruited to the lists to use their names to pull in various opportunists, and sometimes even outright scum. Previously, the top ten included musicians, artists, and athletes; now it's military personnel, social activists, and Maidan heroes. But the most interesting characters are usually placed outside the top ten."
"Time will tell whether today's 'new faces' will be ashamed of their entry into politics. For now, we'd like to believe they will become servants of the people, not party bosses," concluded Konstantin Novopolsky.
Igor Darmostuk, editor-in-chief Kyiv Authorities
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