The upcoming local elections in Ukraine will be tense, and as the main stress during the election campaign will be put on social and economic problems, and this could lead to a mass resurgence of "leftist sentiments," Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Ukraine Andriy Yermolayev has said.
"In the center of Ukraine, and in parts of the south, and north, where public moods are very changeable, [and where there are] a lot of depressed regions… the elections will be very tense," he said at a press conference in Simferopol on August 18.
According to Yermolayev, during the election campaign the main stress will be put on two issues.
"The first is the rise of prices, because a rise in the price of gas automatically leads to a very serious revision of the structure of prices for housing and municipal services on the whole," he said.
At the same time, the expert added that "the most dangerous things will be speculation about the structure of market and national policy not only in the energy sphere, but in the economy as well.
"The consideration [of the following issues] by the political forces during the election race – what Ukraine owns and what it can manage, what is the price and how one can profit from the price … like it or not, could restore paternalistic, mass leftist sentiments. I consider this very negative, as six months ago we received a strong social resource – trust, hope and the prospect of economic reforms," Yermolayev said.
According to Yermolayev, the second issue in the election campaign will be "more discrediting of the business class."
"The problem of [the gap between] people with low incomes and the rich is becoming sharper. Obviously, [politicians] will try to profit from this," he said.
The election campaign begins on September 11, 50 days before polling day
