Celebrities and big names top political parties' election lists (01/15/06)

Celebrities and big names top political parties' election lists

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - When Ukrainians choose their Parliament this March, they will recognize the name of pop singer Ruslana under the Our Ukraine bloc.

The Reforms and Order-Pora bloc also scored a top celebrity when it placed former heavyweight champion Vitalii Klitschko in its No. 1 slot.

The campaign for the March 26 parliamentary election was officially under way in December when the competing political blocs began revealing their electoral lists, those crucial ledgers that determine who will get priority for a parliamentary seat.

For the major parties and blocs such as Our Ukraine and Party of Regions, typically the first 100 to 150 people on the lists will get a seat in the Verkhovna Rada.

However, it's the top five names on the electoral lists that appear next to the bloc name in the voting booths.

Most of the top five are names voters would expect to see: Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov is ranked first for the Our Ukraine bloc; former vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs Mykola Tomenko is ranked third in the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

On the Party of the Regions list, pro-Russian businessman Viacheslav Bohuslav is ranked fifth.

But next to the names of wealthy businessmen and professional politicians, some parties and blocs have mixed in a celebrity or two - a trend that is much more apparent in 2006 than in previous years.

Our Ukraine's leadership decided that, in addition to Ruslana Lyzhychko, who has the fifth slot in Our Ukraine's list, a second celebrity will also help their campaign.

They gave their fourth slot to Olha Herasymiuk, Ukraine's version of Barbara Walters. Ms. Herasymiuk is general producer for the 1+1 television network, co-host of the political show "Idu na Vy" and host of her own talk show, "Bez Tabu," which typically explores emotional topics that appeal to women.

The People's Party of Ukraine also decided to take on a celebrity. Just after Volodymyr Lytvyn's top placing on its electoral list is the name of Sofia Rotaru, a popular Ukrainian singer during the last three decades.

Although not in the top five, Soviet soccer legend Oleh Blokhin ranks 10th in the "Ne Tak" political bloc led by Leonid Kravchuk.

The fierce competition for the Verkhovna Rada, which will limit its seats to those parties or blocs that earn at least 3 percent of the vote, has caused competitors to resort to more unconventional tactics to draw votes, political experts said.

Specifically, Ukraine's democracy has transitioned from a patronage-based political system that thrived during the Kuchma years to a charisma-based election, said Serhii Taran, director of the Kyiv-based International Democracy Institute, which is financed by mid-level Ukrainian businesses and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

Whereas Ukrainians used to vote for the party or bloc that did them the most favors, they are now casting votes based on the personalities they are familiar with and trust, Dr. Taran said.

For political parties and blocs, that means recruiting celebrities with name recognition, or those who will strike an emotional chord with voters.

"People are not voting for programs or ideologies, but for personalities," Dr. Taran said. "It was good for the Orange Revolution because charismatic personalities were able to win. But after charismatic people took office, they couldn't offer anything to the people except their charisma."

For Ukraine's democracy to further develop, political parties and blocs will have to start proposing programs and ideologies, he said.

This is the first year that Ukraine's parliamentary election will be entirely decided based on the electoral list system. In prior parliamentary elections, party or bloc lists determined half the seats, while geographic electoral districts decided the other half.

To make the top spots in the electoral list, a person either has to have a political or celebrity status that draws votes, or exceptional political experience, skill or advantage, said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Kyiv-based Institute of Statehood and Democracy, which is exclusively financed by Ukrainian business donations.

About half of the top 100 seats are typically bought by businessmen, he said.

Our Ukraine's top three are Prime Minister Yekhanurov, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Anatolii Kinakh and Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk.

Though they currently hold high posts, these three will likely become national deputies because any new parliamentary majority won't allow them to remain in their positions in the administration, said Mykhailo Pohrebynskyi, director of the Center for Political Research and Conflict Studies, which is funded by Russian banks and "private Ukrainian organizations."

The top five on the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc electoral list are former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, former Security Service of Ukraine Chief Oleksander Turchynov, Mr. Tomenko, Social Democratic National Deputy Vasyl Onopenko and former journalist and former vice president of the public television network UT-1 Andrii Shevchenko.

The top five on the Party of the Regions electoral list are former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Parliamentary Human Rights Ombudsman Nina Karpachova, Novokramatorskyi Automobile Factory President Heorhii Skudar, National Deputy Taras Chornovil and Motor Sich Airplane Engine Factory Board Chairman Vyacheslav Bohuslav.

The Party of the Regions list looks like a Who's Who of businessmen and officials accused of corruption, officials falsifying the 2004 presidential vote and advocating eastern Ukraine's secession.

Among them is Borys Kolesnykov, the Donetsk Oblast Council chair who was arrested in April and charged with extortion. He was among the leaders calling for eastern Ukraine's secession, along with Yevhen Kushnariov, who earned the Party of Regions' 11th spot.

The Procurator General's Office arrested the former Kharkiv Oblast Council chair in August, alleging Mr. Kushnariov abused his office and inflicted financial losses on the government.

Former Central Election Commission Chair Serhii Kivalov has the 27th slot. Fellow Yanukovych aides widely believed to have engaged in election fraud also appear on the list, including Eduard Prutnik (55th slot) and Andrii Kluyev, who led Mr. Yanukovych's dirty shadow campaign.

The Party of the Regions list also is full of Donetsk businessmen who have close ties to Ukraine's wealthiest entrepreneur, Rynat Akhmetov, who is in seventh place on the party's list.

Among those close to Mr. Akhmetov is Yukhym Zviahilskyi, a wealthy mine owner who hid in Israel for two years after being accused of stealing gasoline, Mr. Lozowy said.

"No question - the Party of the Regions is essentially one big Donetsk clan," he said. "These people aren't interested in business as such. They're interested in money, and the easy way to make money is mergers and acquisitions."

Viktor Yanukovych's son Viktor holds 89th place on the Party of Regions' list.

Former Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun was given 95th place on the Party of the Regions list, which may at least partly explain why many of the accused criminals were never prosecuted.

The top five on the People's Party of Ukraine electoral list are Mr. Lytvyn, Ms. Yevdokymenko-Rotaru, former cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk, National Academy of Sciences Institute of History Director Valerii Smolii and Supreme Court Chairman Vasyl Maliarenko.

The top five on the Socialist Party's electoral list are Party Chair Oleksander Moroz, State Property Fund Chair Valentyna Semeniuk, Education Minister Stanislav Nikolayenko, Silski Visti editor Ivan Spodarenko and Afghanistan veterans' advocate Vasyl Chervonopyskyi.

The top five on the Reforms and Order-Pora electoral list are Mr. Klitschko, Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, Pora Political Council Chair Vladyslav Kaskiv, Reforms and Order National Deputy Taras Stetskiv and Pora Political Council Deputy Chair Yevhen Zolotariov.

| Home Page |