The Oct. 24 episode of Shuster Live, a political talk show, came as another chunk of broadcasted populism with candidates running for the seats in parliament saying anything that could bring them additional percentage points during the Election Day on Oct. 26.
Oct. 24 was the last day that candidates could agitate, according to the current legislation.
Anatoliy Hrytsenko, leader of the Civic Position party and country’s former defense minister, said joining the NATO should be the key priority for the future parliament. “Among the first decisions in the parliament should be the abolishment of the neutral status, formation of the army according to the NATO standards … and applying for the NATO membership is also necessary,” he emphasized.
The leader of the party that may not be able to reach the required 5 percent of the votes to enter the parliament, according to the poll by Democratic Initiatives Foundation, said his group had no ads on the nationwide television stations as they’re too expensive.
Batkivshchyna’s leader Yulia Tymoshenko talked a lot about Georgia’s experience in conducting the reforms, which is a popular vision of the changes needed to be done in Ukraine. Former economy minister Pavlo Sheremeta was especially active in preaching the Georgian model.
She read a letter from Nadiya Savchenko, an army officer who leads Batkivshchyna’s list of candidates and is currently held in prison in Russia’s Moscow on the charges of involvement in killing two Russian journalists during the antiterrorist operation in the Donbas. “We sent the petition to the U.S. president and asked him to lead the negotiations with Russia regarding Savchenko’s freedom,” said Tymoshenko, who spent more than two years in jail under the regime of former president Viktor Yanukovych.
Nestor Shufrych from the Opposition Bloc, the most recent version of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, compared nation’s current condition with what it experienced during the 2008-2009 economic crisis. He promised “quick change of the situation,” but failed to explain the way to do it. Finally, he urged not to vote for the Communist Party or Sergiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine, two political forces that the Opposition Bloc shares the electorate with.
Candidates made their final pitches on Savik Shuster’s show ahead of the Oct. 26 parliamentary election.
Meanwhile, Tigipko, an author of Yanukovych-era pension reform that didn’t change much in how retired people get their monthly payments from the government, heavily bets on the economic arguments. He came up with an idea to select 250-300 large companies and develop an “individual approach” to each of them in order to stimulate the business development. Tigipko’s associates Vadym Gryb and Igor Miroshnychenko talked about the deregulation, a policy aimed at reduction the number of reasons for a businessman to go to the government offices for all kinds of permits.
Andriy Sadovy, leader of Samopomich and mayor of Lviv, emphasized the necessity to bring new faces to Ukraine’s political life, though didn’t say much about particular steps these new faces will do in order to help the 45-million country live a better life.
Joining the European Union, a 28-nation bloc with a single currency in the most of it, is a key part of the message voiced by Yuriy Lutsenko who spoke on behalf of President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc. Yuliy Mamchur, an army colonel who runs for a seat in Verkhovna Rada with Poroshenko’s group, said taking a pro-NATO stance is crucial for the nation’s security.
Oleh Lyashko, leader of the Radical Party, talked about cutting the current number of parliament members, 450, to 200. He added that creating a “buffer zone” in the Donbas is unacceptable, even if this will lead to peace. Protectionism and government-backed support of the local businesses are a crucial part of Lyashko’s economic program.
Known for promising to become a kamikaze-style reformist, that would have no chances to be popular with the population, incumbent Prime Minister and leader of People’s Front Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he supports reduction of the taxes for the population. However, a part of the population, involved in any business activity, probably won’t be too happy about this since the move will likely to be done on their cost.
Meanwhile, Denys Bogush, a political projects developer, says only a tiny fraction of voters, that doesn’t go beyond 1 percent, pays attention to the parties’ programs. “The voter pays more attention to what the candidate does,” he explains.
Telekritika, an online-hub that covers local media scene, reports that nation’s leading television stations increased broadcasting the paid-for news very substantially in October due to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“I haven’t turned the television on for a while,” Volodymyr Lapa, an agriculture analyst, wrote on Facebook late on Oct. 24. “Parade of verbal struggle against the oligarchs which was paid by the oligarchs.”
Moreover, Zurab Alasaniya, chief executive officer of the state-owned First National television channel, said he’s not happy with the quality of journalistic work by Shuster, an anchor of the Shuster Live show on this channel. A citizen of Canada and Italy, Shuster is expected to leave the First National in early 2015 when his contract expires. “We’ve allowed him to go through the presidential and parliamentary elections on our channel. Do you understand what this means in our country? Go ahead and leave with a dignity, though nobody even talks about dignity anymore. But leave correctly. He decided to do it differently, let God be his judge,” Alasaniya said.
Anna Yakutenko can be reached at [email protected].
