Last weekend, congresses of the most important political parties were held, which presented the lists of their candidates for early elections to the Verkhovna Rada. "Apostrophe" publishes the most complete information about the most important participants of the election campaign.
"Ukrainian strategy" by Volodymyr Groysman
The Congress of the party of Volodymyr Groysman "Ukrainian strategy" was held in Mystetskyi Arsenal. That is, where in recent years, the team of the ex-President of Petro Poroshenko often gathered. Therefore, Groysman's Congress was more like a demonstration to Petro Poroshenko that the Prime Minister is able to be the leader of the party and is also able to rent such premises as Arsenal. And as a proof of this, Volodymyr Groysman said from the stage:
"I will no longer be a player of someone else's team, the team, in which I lost a lot of time to overcome obstacles. I decided to form a real team of Ukrainian strategy".
The intrigue of the Congress was who will be part of the top ten. A few weeks ago Groysman was expected to unite with the leader of the "Narodnyi Front" Arsenii Yatseniuk and people close to him, it was planned that it would be a certain party of two Prime Ministers with a quota of 50/50. But later politicians changed their minds, considering it was not the best idea. At the Congress it became known that instead of a place in the list, Yatseniuk had an opportunity "to push" some people to Groysman's party, and actually he won't go to Parliament even on the majority list. Some of Yatseniuk's people were in the top ten.
So, the list of "Ukrainian strategy" is as follows: Volodymyr Groysman, Minister of culture Yevhen Nyshchuk, the First Deputy Minister of information policy Emine Djeparova, the Minister of education and science Liliia Hrynevych (quota of NF), the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleksandr Saienko, the Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko (quota of NF), ex-Deputy Minister of Finance Serhii Marchenko, the Deputy from the NF Andrii Teteruk, the Secretary of Vinnytsia City Council Pavlo Yablonskyi, the Deputy from the NF Viktor Yelenskyi.
Now Groysman's rating does not look too encouraging: the party is not gaining even 3%. According to the closed sociology, the party has about 1% of supporters, and it is supported only in the Kyiv and Vinnitsa regions. Therefore, there are all chances that the independent campaign of the Prime Minister will end with a failure both for it, and for "Narodnyi Front". And even earlier the People's Deputy close to it and the representative in the Parliament Vadym Denysenko got onto Ihor Smeshko's lists "Force and honor". Although a member of the team of Groysman Oleksandr Saienko commenting so disappointing ratings to "Apostrophe" said that the team believes that the party can overcome the barrier in the Parliament and they will appeal to the achievements of Groysman as a Prime Minister, for example, to the reform of decentralization. But members of the team of the Prime Minister not publicly recognize that the current participation is rather a reserve for the future, in order to dissociate from ex-President Petro Poroshenko, as Groysman has long been associated with him as a junior partner and for future elections.
Heading to politics - seriously and for a long term
Sviatoslav Vakarchuk held a Congress of the party "Voice" at the same place where he declared his political ambitions - on Starokyivska Mountain in Kyiv near the Museum of History of Ukraine. Journalists were not allowed to attend the event due to the cramped premises. Instead the broadcasting was turned on outside and it could be watched by everyone.
Vakarchuk during the whole Congress tried to present himself in the three images: romantic, politician and a joker. But at the press conference, he sounded more like Petro Poroshenko, who from the height of his flight speaks about simple things in a difficult language.
"We are going into politics for a long time. I believe that the "Voice" will continue to exist and build a great Ukraine even when we are all gone," Vakarchuk warned.
The first ten of the "Voice" included Vakarchuk, the Chairman of his election campaign office Yuliia Klymenko, the Head of the company Ukraine Ring Kira Rudyk, Deputy Head of the Election campaign Yaroslav Zhelezniak, anticorruption crusader Oleksandr Ustynov, lawyer Oleh Makarov, the former Head of Transparency International in Ukraine, a member of election campaign office Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, journalist of the "Mirror of week" Serhii Rakhmanin, a former assistant to Mikheil Saakashvili Solomiia Bobrovska, the former Deputy Minister of Health Olha Stefanyshyn. In addition, the party presented the entire list of its candidates, which included 195 people.
The party also presented a list of majority candidates, which included the current peoples’ deputies - Viktoriia Voitsytska, Leonid Yemets, Pavlo Rizanenko and Viktoriia Ptashnyk.
After the Congress Vakarchuk organized a free concert of the band "Okean Elzy", where he presented a new song. Before the elections, he plans to have concerts in all regional cities. Journalists noticed that Vakarchuk's song tour looks like a bribery of voters. But he did not agree. Also, Vakarchuk in his speech said that it is necessary to fight oligarchs, while the political circles are now actively discussing that Vakarchuk already as the politician is supported by the oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, who has provided him with media support, the names of the former Head of the Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin and the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Oleksii Filatov are also mentioned. The team denies such information, saying that the campaign plans to spend about 80 million hryvnias, and the report on the donors, which includes big business, will be presented in the near future.
According to the latest data, the rating of "Voice" exceeded 5%. Many political forces are already considering the possibility of uniting with Vakarchuk in Parliament. They Include the parties "Servant of people" and "Batkivshchyna".
Heart symbol
"Batkivshchyna" held its Congress on Monday, June 10. It was held near the party's office in Turivska street, and the party activists, the future members of the list and majority candidates were invited. It was decided to hold the Congress outside - under the scorching summer sun, and even for the members of the team there were no sheds. The representatives of Tymoshenko's team were all wearing white clothes, and on the scene there was a banner with already slightly forgotten red heart - a symbol of "Batkivshchyna"
Tymoshenko almost at once called representatives of the team to the scene, many of them will be in the party list in Parliament. Tymoshenko began her speech with the words, that it is necessary to support new politicians and that her party is ready to the strong coalition with the new President. Such statements were made for a reason - Tymoshenko was negotiating with Ihor Kolomoisky to support her in the elections.
New people in the list, however, were not so numerous. Yuliia Tymoshenko was going to update all top ten, but her old colleagues zealously opposed it. For a long time there were intense negotiations as to the list. As a result, many "young" persons did not get to the top part of the list. The last compilation of the list continued until the public part of the Congress in Turivska street, until the morning of June 10. For example, the 15th place in the list was given to the head of the Kyiv Party Organization and one of the sponsors of "Batkivshchyna" Konstiantin Bondarev. The value of Bondarev for Tymoshenko is really high, and it was clearly confirmed by the fact that Tymoshenko personally came to the airport "Boryspil" in the summer of 2018, when Bondarev was detained there by unknown persons.
As a result, the list of "Batkivshchyna" included Yuliia Tymoshenko, the second one was the People's Deputy Serhii Taruta, with whose party "Osnova" "Batkivshchyna” united before presidential elections, the third number was the ex- head of Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalivaichenko who also entered the team of Tymoshenko, the fourth number was Tymoshenko's long-term colleague and the Deputy Head of her Parliament Fraction Serhii Sobolev, the fifth place was left for the People's Deputy Olena Kondratiuk who is responsible for advertising and event direction in the party campaign office.
The list also included the Head of the Dnipro Regional Organization Antonina Uliakhina. On the 26th place there was a long-term colleague of Yuliia Tymoshenko Mykhailo Sokolov who represents interests of Tymoshenko in Mykolaiv. A part of the current people's deputies are sent to the majority districts, for example, Ihor Lutsenko. The party promised to announce all the list in till the end of June 10. "But negotiations are still ongoing and the districts are changing, because so far nothing was said publicly except for the top five," one of those present at the Congress of the deputies said.
Servant of people
The Congress of the party of Volodymyr Zelensky "Servant of people", which took place on June 9, can be called the most pompous and large-scale of all events of this kind. It was more like shooting a series or a large-scale party, not a serious political event. But apparently, the new President is simply fulfilling his earlier promise that "it will be fun."
The party "Servant of people" has chosen quite an exotic place for the Congress - the Botanical garden named after Hryshko. Open electric cars brought the guests to the destination point, and around the perimeter of the garden there were volunteers with the symbols of the party. Near the big tent where the Congress took place, there was a television van in which Volodymyr Zelensky waited for the exit.
There was also a large food court, where people were treated to pancakes, salads, and shawarma, which has become a meme, after Zelensky congratulated the people of Kyiv on the Day of the city. Among guests one could see the acting politicians, for example, the People's Deputy Serhii Leshchenko, the new Secretary of NSDC Oleksandr Danyliuk, acting head of Security Service of Ukrsine Ivan Bakanov, as well as famous TV hosts and actors. In particular, we could see Mykola Tyshchenko who plans to be nominated on one of districts in Kyiv, but so far his candidacy wasn't approved yet, due to the ambiguous moments in the biography.
There was also a TV presenter Oleksandr Skichko, who according to "Apostrophe", will go to the 197th district. He is the son-in-law of the construction developer and the billionaire Leonid Yurushev who in due time closely cooperated with Arseniy Yatseniuk. One could also see at the Congress the representatives of "Quarter", and one of them – Yurii Koriavchenkov – is going to go to one of the district in Kryvyi Rih.
After a short introductory speech by the head of the party Dmytro Razumkov, Volodymyr Zelensky came on stage. He started with a joke about whether it was his speech and not Petro Poroshenko's speech, recalling a recent incident in Brussels when he was accused of copying a part of Poroshenko's speech. Seeing that some of those present stood at his appearance on the stage, he urged them to sit down, as "other times have come", but it was more like a prepared move than an impromptu of the newly elected Presidet. Also, he reported that probably not all people in the list were already checked, but hoped that the vigilant public could correct it.
After a short introduction, the result of which was already familiar "let's own them together again", the list of the party was announced. It included Dmytro Razumkov, the President's representative in the Parliament and the chief ideologist of the campaign Ruslan Stefanchuk, legal adviser Iryna Venediktova, volunteer Davyd Arakhamiia, Head of the Public Control Council of the NABU and the wife of the head of the "Ukrainian Institute of the future" Viktor Andrusiv Halyna Yanchenko, chief IT expert in the team of Zelensky and his adviser Mykhailo Fedorov, Head of the election campaign Oleksandr Koniienko, former expert of the Center for combating corruption Anastasiia Krasnosilska, General Director of the 1+1 channel Oleksand Tkachenko, which according to available information, aims to become Vitaly Klitschko's successor, the world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Jean Beleniuk.
Also the list included former head of Lyman DSA in Odesa region, the lawyer and the husband of the actingPeople's Deputy Olena Shkrum Dmytro Natalukha, representative of Zelensky in the Cabinet of Ministers Andriy Herus, the founder of the clinic "Borys" Mykhailo Radutskyi, ex-Deputy of the Odessa city Council, who previously collaborated with Nataliia Korolevska and the party of Viktor Medvedchuk, and who now works as a TV presenter on the TV channel NewsOne associated with Medvedchuk. The blogger Liza Bohutska, a fierce supporter of Mikheil Saakashvili, also appeared in the first hundred. About ten majority candidates were also presented at the Congress, the rest, as they say in the party, were due to be presented on June 10, when the decision on all candidates was expected to be made. However, as of 8 o'clock in the morning of June 11, on only 10 people appeared the website of party. They included the blogger and writer from Dnipro Max Buzhanskyi, who will go for the 25th district in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the journalist of 1+1 channel Oleksandr Dubinskyi, who in his district in Kyiv region is going to face the People's Deputy Ihor Kononenko, Yurii Kravchenko who was already mentioned, Tetiana Romantseva (Donetsk region), Ihor Herasymenko (Zhytomyr), Yurii Kochut (Zakarpattia), Albert Cherepakha (Kherson), Liubov Shpak (Cherkasy), and two majority candidates from Kyiv - Maksym Perebiynis and Dmytro Hurin.
After the end of the official part, Zelensky and his team left the territory of the garden on golf car, and those present went to eat shawarma and pancakes.
"Opposition block" and "Trust the actions"
When it became clear that the unification of the whole Opposition block once again would not take place, the opposition blocл had to seek new allies. The new party "Trust the actions" of mayors of Kharkiv and Odessa - Henadii Kernes and Henadii Trukhanov became the new partners. The latter was the result of the merger of the party of Henadii Trukhanov "Trust the actions" and political force of Vitalii Khomutynnik and Ihor Kolomoisky "Vidrodzhennia". This party is aimed at the electorate of the South-East and united the mayors of the cities. In addition, the association includes the party of Yevhen Muraiev "Nashi" and "Peace Party" of Vadym Novinskyi.
On June 7, politicians announced the merger officially on the pedestrian bridge in Kyiv.
"We have signed a Memorandum so that we can implement decentralization on the ground. We will support a deep reform of the decentralization of the united opposition forces," Kernes said at the time.
The final stage was the holding of the Congress on June 10, where the parties presented a general list for the parliamentary elections. 25 candidates will go to the elections. And the top ten included all familiar faces: the People's Deputy Yevhen Yevhen, the People's Deputy and ex-presidential candidate Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor of Kharkiv Henadii Kernes, the mayor of Odessa Henadii Trukhanov, the People's Deputy Vadym Novinskyi, the mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Zaporizhzhia Volodymyr Buriak, the mayor of Uzhgorod Bohdan Andriiv, the Deputy of Khmelnytskyi Regional Council Uliana Tkachenko and the former People's Deputy Volodymyr Pylypenko.
It is expected that Trukhanov and Kernes will not go to Parliament, and if they get to the Parliament, then will resign.
Let us note that Rinat Akhmetov and Ihor Kolomoisky are not in very good relations with each other. But before the parliamentary elections, they managed to reach understanding in order to prevent the majority of Zelensky in the Parliament. It is not yet clear what kind of support such a union may get; the party has not yet been included in sociological research.
"Opposition platform - For life"
The information about the Congress of one of the leaders of electoral support of the "Opposition platform - For life" became known on the day it was held. The leaders of the political force decided not to invite journalists to the event, but conducted an online broadcast.
A few days before the Congress there were rumors about the possible reunification of the "Platform" with the "Opposition block". But it wasn't meant to be. One of the main reasons was the electoral list, the top part of which could not include the representatives of the wing of Rinat Akhmetov.
The base of Dynamo Kyiv was chosen as the place of the Congress. The representatives of the "Opposition platform - For life" Serhii Liovochkin and Dmytro Firtash support this team. The list of the political force includes Hryhorii Surkis, former President of FC Dynamo.
The rhetoric of the team members has not changed. They support the restoration of relations with Russia, the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the abolition of laws on decommunization and lustration.
"Our team will build a successful country. We are ready, and we can and must do it," the member of the "list", Viktor Medvedchuk, the fellow of the President of the Russian Federation Volodymyr Putin said.
The election list includes practically all current deputies: Yurii Boiko and Vadym Rabinovich, Viktor Medvedchuk (to recap - in the winter of 2017, Serhii Liovochkin was against Putin’s fellow in the list), Nataliia Korolevska, Serhii Liovochkin, Nestor Shufrych, Vasyl Nimchenko, Serhii Larin, Serhii Dunaiev and Taras Kozak.
At the moment, the "Platform" has almost 12% of support. According to "Apostrophe", they plan to gain 15% in the elections. And in the new Parliament this party will fight for the Prime Minister's seat, which they would like to offer to Boiko.
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Poroshenko openly decided to hold the Congress in two stages. On June 7, the representatives of Petro Poroshenko Block and the ex-President's entourage gathered for the official presentation of the renewed European Solidarity Party, which was headed by the ex-President himself. At this stage of the Congress the list was not presented, but it was said that there would be a lot of new faces.
The only thing that doesn't change about Petro Poroshenko, is the rhetoric. He still promises the future of Ukraine in the EU and NATO and promises to prevent the revenge of Pro-Russian forces. This is not surprising. After all, his campaign continues to be headed by the people who helped him in the presidential election. One of them is the speechwriter Oleh Medvedev and political strategist Ihor Hryniv, who, according to "Apostrophe", was going stop participating in election campaigns.
The Congress of the European Solidarity Party, as well as at the Congress of "Ukrainian strategy" of Groysman, was attended by current ministers and deputies, including the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrii Parubii. Not all of them got to the top ten, but it is possible that we will see them further in the list.
The lucky ones included Poroshenko, Parubiy, the People’s Deputy Iryna Herashchenko, the commander of Airborne assault troops, Lieutenant-General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, the volunteer and singer Sofiia Fedina, the People’s Deputy Mustafa Jemilev, the volunteer Yana Zinkevych, the Deputy Chairman of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people Ahtem Chyihoz, ex-Governor of Lviv Regional State Administration Oleh Syniutka, the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze.
Petro Poroshenko's party takes the third place among voters, the rating is around 7-8%. The political force is worried that it will not have time to promote the new name. But at the Congress on June 9, the fifth President said that he was considering the position of the Prime Minister.
Ihor Smeshko
Another opening of the current elections may be a new party "Power and honor" by Ihor Smeshko. The party held its Congress on Saturday, June 8, at the Chamber of Commerce and industry, where it presented the top ten of its list. The party of Smeshko has a chance to get into Parliament, since according to various opinion polls, its support is about 5%, which is around 10 or 11 seats in Parliament. The first number is Ihor Smeshko, the second - the People's Deputy from "Samopomich" Olena Sotnyk, the third - the Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov, further - the People's Deputy from "Samopomich" Ivan Miroshnychenko, the ex- chief of the General staff Volodymyr Zamana, the scientist Olha Romaniuk, the dDctor of economic Sciences Andrii Haidutskyi, the People's Deputy from "Samopomich" Iriya Sysoienko, the Lieutenant General, one of founders of management "K" in the Security Service of Ukraine Volodymyr Tymoshenko, the ex-head of the State customs service of Ukraine Anatolii Makarenko. Also, as the media commented, the People's artists of Ukraine Vitalii and Svitlana Bilonozhko also want to go to the Parliament, however, their numbers in the list are still unknown.
The former representative of Groysman in the Parliament People's Deputy Vadym Denisenko also showed up at the Congress and he is number 15 in the list. However, the most well-known person in the political project is still the TV presenter Dmytro Hordon, who headed the party's election campaign office. For a long time, there were rumors in the politicum that the places on the list were for sale, and even the names of odious politicians who were interested in this were named. Among the sponsors the oligarch Viktor Pinchuk was mentioned. The party expects not only to overcome the barrier, but also to form a fraction of more than 20 People's Deputies, as the party will still nominate its majority candidates.