Industrial lobbyists will be replaced by representatives of the agribusiness and developers in the parliament

The new parliament will vote for its interests once again

Photo: Alexey Solodunov

The leading parties for this campaign included on their electoral lists many social activists, journalists and members of the anti-terrorist operations (ATO), as they have been persistently informing their voters about. The leaders of political powers turned less attention to the business owners, which will also have an influential representation in the Verkhovna Rada. The parliament of the new convocation is expected to be slightly less lobbyist than the previous one. In the future Verkhovna Rada the influence energy and industrial enterprises will be lower, while agrarians and developers will strengthen their positions.

Land party

The group of deputies somehow interlinked by their interests in agriculture promises to be the most representative in the parliament of the new convocation. This includes both producers of agricultural products and their processors. At the same time, farmers will be represented in the parliament for the first by professional lobbyists. First of all we are talking about Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine Oleksandr Bakumenko and head of the Council of Entrepreneurs in the Cabinet of Ministers Leonid Kozachenko. Both of them gained high places in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) and have been publicly defending the interests of farmers for many years. “We have many problems in the country and not only in the agricultural sector. Among them are the war, devaluation of the national currency and corruption,” said Bakumenko.

Large agrarian businessmen in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc are trying to get elected to the parliament in majoritarian constituencies with one exception - Ihor Kononenko, who is considered the senior among junior partners of the president and has held high-ranking senior positions in Ukrprominvest for many years, will run for a seat in parliament on the party list.

The president's party in a majoritarian constituency will be represented by CEO of Nibulon Andriy Vadaturskiy. The company founded by his father Oleksiy Vadaturskiy has become the largest exporter of grain. Agrarian businessman Arkadiy Kornatskiy will make another attempt to be elected to the parliament in the Mykolaiv oblast. In the Donetsk oblast the party will be represented by the owner of TM Khlibodar Borys Shestopalov and in the Khmelnytsky oblast – by co-founder of Persha Pryvatna Brovarnya Roman Matsola.

Ihor Brychenko and Ihor and Roman Zastavniy, also involved in agribusiness, gained decent spots on the list of the People’s Front. There are also manufacturers of alcohol on the lists of the Strong Ukraine and Batkivshchyna parties. The largest manufacturer of snack foods Serhiy Rybalko has good chances of being elected as a member of the Radical Party.

“There are two representatives of the agrarian lobby in the list of Batkivshchyna - Ivan Kyrylenko and the head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Village and Town Councils Vadym Ivchenko,” a consultant of a political party said in a conversation with Capital.

Owner of Creative (a major producer of sunflower oil) Stanyslav Berezkin may find himself in the new convocation of the parliament as neither the PPB, nor the People’s Front nominated any serious competitors in his constituency.

At the same time, political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko believes that it will be difficult to turn the quantity of agricultural entrepreneurs in the parliament into quality - the unity of the agricultural lobby is out of the question. “They will compete with one another,” he predicted.

General interests

Only a group of parliamentary candidates involved in real estate and commerce may compete with the agribusiness for representation in the VR. The PPB stuck to its chosen tactics, sending major business owners to majoritarian constituencies. The winning place was only given to developer Oleksandr Hranovskiy, while his colleague Lev Partskhaladze occupies only 93rd place on the list. In the majoritarian constituencies the PPB will be represented by Zhytomyr developer Borys Rosenblat, while representative of a large retail business Vasyl Yanytskiy is running from the president's party in a constituency in the Rivne oblast.

The People’s Front included in the top of its list Dnepropetrovsk deputies Tetyana Donets and Denys Dzenzerskiy, who are related to real estate. Yatsenyuk’s party in the majoritarian constituency in Kyiv will be represented by co-owner of the KDD Group Vyacheslav Konstantynovskiy.

The Civil Position officially named developers as its main sponsors, specifically the owner of the Universam store in Ternopil Petro Landyak and Leonid Makula, who owns the Srednefontansky shopping mall in Odesa." Oleh Shablatovych, who developed a successful company in the real estate development market, will once again run for seat in the parliament.

Oleh Lyashko, who has had to deal with real estate developers in the elections to the Kyiv City Council, included them on his list. As such, the 19th spot was given to Director of the Green-Grey Construction Company Serhiy Skuratovskiy. Slightly higher on the list is President of the Kyiv techno-park Bionic Hill Viktor Halasyuk. Chairman of the Joint Congress of Azerbaijanis Rovshan Tagiyev, allegedly interested in the real estate market, got the 35th place on the list of the Radical Party.

Forced opposition

The greatest number of industrialists is among candidates of the Strong Ukraine party. At the top of Tihipko’s list one can see representatives of various major financial and industrial groups. For example, the interests of Viktor Pinchuk are represented by Larysa Melnyk, who worked for the Interpipe Corporation for many years. The 28th line belongs to CEO of the Zaporizhzhya Ferroalloys Plant Pavlo Kravchenko (the enterprise is a member of the Privat ferroalloys empire). Tihipko’s team also has a lobby in the automotive industry represented by Tariel Vasadze and Vasyl Polyakov.

The Opposition Bloc mainly counts on the interests of Rinat Akhmetov. There are three politicians representing his interests in the Top 20 of the party list: former CEO of Azovstal Iron & Steel Works Oleksiy Biliy, Purchasing and Logistics Director at Metinvest Volodymyr Husak and former SCM lawyer Yuriy Voropayev. In addition, the 12th line on the list of the Opposition Bloc was given to Akhmetov’s business partner Vadym Novynskiy.

It is possible to predict with high probability that they will be accompanied in the VR by the owner of Ferrexpo Kostyantyn Zhevago. Former head of the ISD Corporation Serhiy Taruta and president of Motor Sich Vyacheslav Bohuslayev also have good chances of winning a seat in the new parliament. All three of them are running in majoritarian constituencies as independent candidates.

Political analyst Taras Berezovets says big business is trying to get closer to the ruling power in order to get export rebates. Many businesses do not want to “grease the hand”, which is why they decided to run for a seat in the parliament. He explained that representatives of industrial businesses were willing to go to the polls with Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, but their close cooperation with the regime of the former president carries reputational risks for both parties.

Gasoline and drugs

It appears that energy, pharmaceutical and financial companies will create their own lobbying groups in the parliament. For example, owner of the Continuum Group Ihor Yeremeyev, which controls the chain of WOG gas stations, and his business partner Stepan Ivakhov are running for a seat in parliament in those constituencies where they won in the last elections. Kolomoiskiy’s associate Ihor Palytsya was given a place in the top of the PPB list. Western Ukrainian politicians interested in the energy and utilities sectors – Kalush Mayor Ihor Nasalyk and brothers Yaroslav and Bohdan Dubnevych – will run in the constituencies representing the same party. Batkivshchyna will be represented by oil producer Volodymyr Kernytskiy, Strong Ukraine will be represented by CEO at Chernivtsigaz Hennadiy Fedoryak, who is considered to be in the orbit of companies controlled by Dmytro Firtash. In addition, the list of the Opposition Bloc is headed by Yuriy Boyko, who also has good relations with Firtash.

The banking and investment businesses are represented by all the leaders of the election race. The pro-presidential party decided to pay attention to the pharmaceuticals market. At the top of the election list is Director of the Institute of Dermatology and Cosmetology Olha Bohomolets and CEO of the Darnytsya pharmaceuticals company Hlib Zahoriy. Viktor Tkachuk, former member of the Ukrainian Platform, and Pavlo Zhebrivskiy, brother of Farmak CEO Filya Zhebrivska are also running for a seat in the parliament. Chair of the VR Committee for Healthcare Issues Tetyana Bakhteyeva is also running for a seat in the parliament on the list of the Opposition Bloc.

Admittedly, despite the plethora of business owners running for the VR, Fesenko believes that lobbying will be not be as significant in the next VR compared to the current convocation of the parliament. The political analyst says the main lobbyists – representatives of the industrial and energy sectors – have low chances of being re-elected. “Big business will solve its problems not in the parliament but in the higher echelons of power,” he says.