Odious self-nominated candidates win the elections

Oles Dovhiy went down a rocky road to finally become a parliament member

Photo: Ukrainian photo

Despite the victory of pro-government parties on party lists, they failed to win a majority of votes in first-past-the-post constituencies. 100 self-nominated candidates, including many odious politicians, were elected as people’s deputies.

Yesterday, the Central Election Commission processed more than half of the protocols from single-member election districts. According to preliminary data, candidates nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) led the race in 63 districts. The People’s Front had 17 first-past-the-post mandates and two candidates from the Batkivshchyna party and the Opposition Bloc won first place in their constituencies. There were around 100 potential winners among self-nominated candidates.

Member of the political council of the PPB Yuriy Stets told Capital yesterday that the bloc’s headquarters is hoping to win in 75 constituencies. He said another 15 self-nominated candidates ran in those districts in which the political force did not present its representatives. It can be said that around 90 first-past-the-post candidates will make it into the future faction, which is a very impressive result in the 146 districts in which our members ran,” said Stets.

The People’s Front (PF), which delegated 139 first-past-the-post candidates for the elections, is not willing to comment on its results. Member on the party list Vyacheslav Kyrylenko told Capital the party would give its assessment of the campaign after the official results of the elections are announced. He said the inability of the parties to agree on a single candidate in the constituencies was the reason that a number of odious self-nominated candidates won.

In his turn, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Herashchenko, who won a seat in the Verkhovna Rada on the list of the PF, in his comments to Capital said it is possible that votes were rigged in those districts where its candidates vied for posts with members of the PPB. “The headquarters has received protocols with wet stamps. They point to a significant breakaway of our people, but the district committees are in no rush to count them,” Herashchenko complains.

Coordinator of the civil network OPORA Olha Aivazovska also believes that the inability of parties of the EuroMaidan to come to a consensus on a single candidate gave self-nominated candidates high results.

Seven representatives of volunteer teams from the ATO zone have a chance of becoming parliament members. For instance, soldier of the National Guard Yuriy Tymoshenko (PF) beat people’s deputy Oles Doniy in Constituency No. 88 in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. In Constituency No. 121 (Lviv oblast) National Guard Battalion Commander Bohdan Matkivskiy garnered 10% more of the votes than PF candidate Ivan Matkovskiy. In the neighboring Constituency No. 122 activist of the EuroMaidan and soldier of the Dnipro-1 Battalion Volodymyr Parasiuk got the support of more than 50% of the voters. In Constituency No. 95 in the Kyiv oblast activist of the EuroMaidan Mykhailo Havryliuk (PF) is in the lead and Constituency No. 217 in Kyiv Commander of the Volunteer Battalion Azov Andriy Biletskiy beat businessman Vadym Stolar and ex-minister of infrastructure Volodymyr Kozak.

Press secretary of the Right Sector Boryslav Bereza beat out candidates of the PPB and PF in Kyiv Constituency No. 213 (Troyeshchyna). “In the parliament the first thing I will do is submit a bill on citizens’ access to firearms. We already have a package of bills that we drafted together with Polish experts. They concern election legislation, taxation and local self-government,” Bereza told Capital.

Leader of the Right Sector Dmytro Yarosh will become a deputy of Constituency No. 39 in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast – voters gave him twice more votes than for ex-deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration Maria Pustova. In Constituency No. 59 (Maryinka, Donetsk oblast) the majority of voters supported head of the Dnipro Battalion Valentyn Manko.

It can be confidently said that in the Donetsk oblast former members of the Party of Regions Serhiy Klyuyev, Serhiy Matvienkov and Leonid Baisarov will win a seat in the parliament. Yuriy Solod, the husband of ex-minister of social policy Natalia Korolevska, leads in Slovyansk (Constituency No. 47). In the neighboring Luhansk oblast former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine Yevhen Bakulin against whom the Prosecutor General’s Office is conducting criminal proceedings has chances of becoming a people’s deputy.

Former members of the Party of Regions decided to be reelected to the parliament in the Kharkiv oblast. Yesterday, Vasyl Hrytsak, Dmytro Svyatash, Dmytro Dobkin and Vitaliy Khomutynnyk led the race after more than half the votes were counted.

In Constituency No. 65 (Zhytomyr oblast) ex-speaker of the VR Volodymyr Lytvyn won without rivals from the PPB and the PF. His son Ivan Lytyvyn took third place in the neighboring Constituency No. 66. In the Kirovohrad oblast former head of the Kyiv City Council Oles Dovhiy garnered 20% more votes than his closest rival. In the neighboring constituency voters gave the majority of votes to Mykhailo Poplavskiy.