You're sitting at your computer on a cold September evening, reading the lists of candidates for parliamentary favor, and you quietly begin to be stunned by the amount of human trash that's eager to receive the coveted mandate that guarantees relative security (the trash bin doesn't count) and access to the trough.
Here you have former Party of Regions members pushing through, new-wave businessmen who've realized they're nothing without administrative resources, swindlers from the late Yanukovych era who think they can return from abroad by sneaking into parliament, and even all sorts of criminals who fled before Yanukovych but believed they were "political" and therefore had the right to desecrate with their presence the already endlessly desecrated building with the dome on Hrushevsky Street. Just recently we wrote about the fugitive banker, Pavel Borulko, who is on the international wanted list (more about it: Pavel Borulko: A Forgotten Legend of Banking Fraud), who is holed up in Belarus with his new young wife Natalia Rychkova (also a well-known figure in narrow, oligarchic circles), but dreams of returning to his favorite banking schemes to satisfy the appetites of his beloved! His schemes haven't worked yet. After his connection with Baganets became known, the latter was dismissed from the Prosecutor General's Office with a bang. There are limits to human greed and stupidity, and Baganets easily overstepped them. Afterward, neither his service to the Maidan nor to high-ranking officials saved him. Things didn't work out between Borulko and Levochkin either. Levochkin is already in dire straits. He couldn't run in the Mykolaiv single-mandate constituency, as he'd hoped. He faced very strong competitors, and his approval ratings were very low. No amount of PR can fix this situation. Sergei Vladimirovich didn't dare accept Lyashko's quota. It's not that it's a shame for a man to do so, but simply the presence of the radical Levochkin is a clear tombstone for the entire Radical Party. The only path left for Levochkin was a dead end with the Opposition Bloc party. This collection of wretched idiots and fools couldn't possibly accept or tolerate such a person on their list. If Dobkin, Korolevskaya, and Shufrich were accepted, then Levochkin would look like a megastar in comparison. In short, as you've gathered, Levochkin has no time to deal with Borulko's problems right now. He won't let him join his own party, and he won't solve his own problems, since he has so many of them himself that even friendship with the country's top officials won't help. As a result, Borulko has very few options left for a comeback. He can wait for a new Maidan to gather and throw out this government as well. But no one can say when that will happen. And will things even improve? It's not a given. In short, Pavel Viktorovich needs to decide his fate now, or risk being stuck in Belarus for several more years. Eventually, the statute of limitations for his crimes will expire. But that won't be anytime soon, and only a truly committed patriot can spend his old age in Ukraine, while having the means to support himself abroad. It's no wonder that Borulko has only one option for returning: to become a member of parliament this fall, and, once he returns to Ukraine, to resolve his problems on the spot by making direct inroads into high-level offices and formulating proposals that the current, still-hungry officials won't be able to refuse. The banker had already attempted to run in a single-member constituency. That was in 2012, and the contest was in the 198th constituency, in the city of Kostiantynivka, naturally in the Donetsk region. There's a specific issue here. The election law clearly states that independent candidates must submit their documents to the Central Election Commission in person. This is difficult for Pavlo. He's not allowed to enter Ukraine yet, otherwise the border guards and the SBU will be celebrating for a long time after apprehending one of the biggest fraudsters in Ukrainian history. But a political party can nominate a candidate for a single-member constituency. Last time, as we reported, it was a certain "Cossack Party of Ukraine." However, its leaders later disowned Borulko, claiming the protocol had been falsified (Borulko refused to be honest even here; it's a habit). Now, one would think Borulko would also use the services of some cheap, outdated party willing to take on sin for relatively little money. Such a party has no chance in the elections, but it was initially focused on other things – on such projects, selling quotas for submitting candidates to electoral commissions, and other technological machinations. Why not make money off Borulko? Right? Another unsolvable problem will remain, however. A candidate for parliament must reside in Ukraine for five years. It will be interesting to see how Borulko plans to overcome this obstacle. There are options, of course. But they would require the inevitable corruption of certain officials and security forces. Whether these officials would be willing to associate with a criminal, jeopardizing not only their positions but also their personal freedom, is a big question. The experience of their colleagues, who paid dearly for their greed, should be a warning sign. It's certainly possible that an international criminal wanted by the police will use false documents. They won't even show any border crossings. But how he plans to legalize his connection with his new name is a question for the magicians. Although, in his time, Pavel has repeatedly pulled off spectacular tricks with the courts; who knows, maybe he has some aces up his sleeve in the higher courts this time. In short, in just a day or two, Borulko's name may appear in one of the Donbas districts. Another name may also appear, but with Pavel Viktorovich's photograph. We believe in his great abilities, and therefore have no doubt he will be able to navigate the thorny edges of Ukrainian legislation. And then, in the district Borulko chooses, we'll see a truly exemplary election campaign, one that will be written about in textbooks—not just in political science, but in forensic science as well. It will include everything: bribery of other candidates, intimidation, removal from the race through court decisions, mass falsifications with a whole host of applied manipulations and outright ballot stuffing, active illegal work with commission members, and the final freemasonry of the final protocols. Borulko has no chance of winning fairly. But in Donbas, even in the liberated territories, such chaos and chaos reign today that even a monkey that died during the Yanukovych era could be elected to parliament. This would require a strong team of fighters willing to do anything, without moral or ethical standards, support from the security forces, preferably from volunteer battalions, and plenty of money. Another issue is that later, in Kyiv, Borulko will face public misunderstanding. He may try to present himself as a "true Maidan supporter," having successfully shied away from the Party of Regions and back to the former main opposition figures, but it's unlikely anyone will believe him. Another thing is that he's a shrewd banker, so there's a chance he could slip behind the backs of even more odious colleagues. Especially if luck smiles on the "opposition cinder block" with his motley crew of downed pilots. Do we need such elections and such candidates in our country? That's a question for the Central Electoral Commission. Let's hope the people there have a new way of thinking and won't be tempted by "dirty bonuses" from the likes of Borulko.
