The decline in the standard of living in Ukraine is improving the chances of the Communists and Socialists

Prior to the elections the leftists will remind voters about all their trials and tribulations

Photo: Konstantin Melnitsky

The left wing parties turned down the idea of running jointly in the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada. With the deterioration of the economic situation in the country and the decline in the level of social security the Communist and Socialist parties are confident in their strength and are of interest for the big capital.

CPU process

Notwithstanding the possible ban on its activity, the Communist Party of Ukraine was the first to hold the pre-election congress – back at the end of August its delegates approved the top five candidates on its electoral list. “We are counting on votes from the electorate in the east of the country,” leader of the CPU Petro Symonenko told Capital.

Earlier in a conversation with Capital the CPU leader did not rule out the creation of a union of parties with a leftist ideology in order to coordinate common efforts in the elections. Now the Communists made a decision to run in the elections independently.

Director of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics Kostyantyn Bondarenko presumes that the CPU will be financed by representatives of different financial-industrial groups (FIGs) in the coming elections. He said that besides including major businessmen on the party’s electoral list, the CPU will get the support through lobbying interests. “Over the entire history of the Verkhovna Rada the Communists proved themselves to be professional lobbyists, which is why there will be many people willing to lend them financial support,” Bondarenko commented to the publication.

Symonenko assured Capital that his party has already developed plans in the event that the court passes down a ruling on banning its activity. “We have several options, but I will not disclose them now seeing as court proceedings are under way,” he said.
Noteworthy is that the District Court of Kyiv postponed the review of the suit filed by the Ministry of Justice on banning the existence of the CPU for an undetermined period. Minister Pavlo Petrenko already threatened the judges with a challenge for delaying the process.

Scandalous socialism

According to information that Capital possesses, people’s deputy Mykola Rudkovskiy, who was elected in June the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, is drafting a new project Bloc of Leftist Forces for the upcoming elections. Recently Kyiv has been flooded with outdoor advertising of this party and last Tuesday pensioners brandishing pickets with symbols of the CPU demonstrated near the Verkhovna Rada.

According to information of the Ministry of Justice, the Bloc of Leftist Forces is headed by Stanislav Habelev. Earlier the party was called the New Generation of Ukraine and Rudkovskiy was one of its members at the time. Habelev himself could not specify for Capital when the congress was held for renaming of the party. He also did want to tell about the plans of the political force for the upcoming parliamentary elections: “Soon will be present our program and plans to the mass media and the public. At this point, I am not prepared to speak about this matter”. Rudkovskiy also refused to comment saying he is too busy with his own affairs.

A source of the publication in the Chernihiv department of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) said Habelev was a technical candidate of Rudkovskiy in the majoritarian constituency during the parliamentary elections in 2012. By the way, Rudkovskiy himself, according to information that Capital possesses, will run in the elections in the majoritarian constituency in that region.

One political scientist who requested anonymity informed the publication that the Bloc of Leftist Forces party is being formed for running in local elections in 2015. Structures close to businessman Rinat Akhmetov will provide financing of this political force. “I heard that former members of the Party of Regions will provide the bloc certain financial support. But at this point there is no reliable information about this,” a member of the PoR faction in the VR told Capital on condition of anonymity.

Incidentally, the conflict regarding the election of Rukovskiy as the new leader of the party continues in the SPU. Leader of the SPU Petro Ustenko told Capital that he filed a lawsuit with the courts in which he said that the election of Rudkovskiy was rigged. “The next session of the court is planned for October. As it pertains to the elections, the decision on participation in them has not been made yet. I think within a week we will define our format,” said Ustenko.

Yet another project of former leaders of the SPU is the Spravedlyvist (Justice) party. In the local elections in 2010 it was part of the Bloc of Leftist and Left-Central Forces together with the CPU, the SPU, the Union of Leftist Forces and the SDPU(o).

Deputy Chair of the Spravedlyvist party and ex-minister of agrarian policy Oleksandr Baranivskiy told Capital that the party is preparing for conducting an election campaign. He said that the congress at which the electoral list will be approved is planned for September 13. “We are politically active, we had out tent on the Maidan and in the presidential elections we supported Petro Poroshenko. There will be a lot of new names on the list and in the constituencies,” Baranivskiy told Capital. He refused to comment on the financial standing of the party.

A wager on hired labor

Director of the Ukrainian Center of Social Analysis Yevhen Filindash noted in a conversation with Capital that leftist parties have greater potential in Ukraine, particularly in conditions of the worsening of the standard of living. “The leftist niche is today very relevant and slogans are getting responses from representatives of hired hands, who are the first to feel the declining standard of living,” he says.

Representatives of leftist parties can count on the voices of the former electorate of the Party of Regions in the eastern and southern oblasts of Ukraine, as well as voters that live in the central regions of the country, said Vice President of the Association of People’s Deputies Oleksandr Barabash. He said social slogans on improving standards of living and stopping military actions could seriously mobilized voters in the region. “Support of leftist ideas has not disappeared. Simply its proponents gradually transitioned to the PoR. Today the leftist party has all the chances of passing the threshold in the VR and public opinion polls are not an indicator,” Barabash told Capital.Prior to the elections the leftists will remind voters about all their trials and tribulations

Prior to the elections the leftists will remind voters about all their trials and tribulationsCaption

Prior to the elections the leftists will remind voters about all their trials and tribulations