You're reading: Millions Of Ukrainians To Vote On Oct. 25: Saakashvili’s candidates sell reform message in Odesa

ODESA, Ukraine – A large university conference hall in the Black Sea port of Odesa is teeming with hundreds of students. The up-and-coming, go-getting young people gathered here are the kind of voters Sasha Borovik needs.

Borovik, an aide to Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, is running for mayor with the support of the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko. So he spoke to the students this week to make some of his final pitches before the Oct. 25 vote.

“All of us must go to the polls and make our revolution of dignity,” Borovik told students of the Odesa National Polytechnic University on Oct. 20, referring to the 2013-14 EuroMaidan Revolution that ended President Viktor Yanukovych’s rule. “We must choose between the old and the new, between starups and the corrupt companies that are currently building our roads, between knowledge and lack thereof.”

Borovik positions his campaign as a battle against the old corrupt political system that he says is symbolized by other mayoral candidates. The strongest of them is incumbent Mayor Hennady Trukhanov, a one-time Yanukovych ally.
Another Saakashvili aide, Russian-born Maria Gaidar, is running in the Oct. 25 oblast council election and is also supported by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc. Her strongest opponents are also former Yanukovych allies.

A campaign worker distributes campaign literature for mayor candidate Sasha Borovik in Odesa.

Saakashvili, Gaidar and Borovik say that they need to win the elections to more effectively carry out their reform agenda. Among other things, their plans include making customs clearance fast and corruption-free, streamlining social services, and carrying out deregulation and privatization.
The campaign of Ukraine-born Borovik, who has studied at Harvard University and worked at high-tech firms Microsoft and Akamai abroad, is oriented towards technology-savvy, upwardly mobile people and those who yearn for change.

“Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe,” he told the students at Odesa National Polytechnic University. “We want to become a bit richer. We want to create conditions to let young people live here, be successful, make money, feel comfortable and not become a lost generation like ours.”
Saakashvili, who spoke after Borovik’s speech at the university, urged students to focus on the future.

“We just need to turn Odesa into a mix of Barcelona, Dubai and Singapore,” Saakashvili said. “Let’s make new history. You will make that history. Let it be you who become the new heroes. Let’s build a new Odesa!”

Like Borovik, Gaidar, who is in charge of social services at the regional administration, also targets young, upwardly mobile people who want change. Gaidar, a former Russian opposition politician and critic of President Vladimir Putin, also has a Harvard degree.

But another group of her voters is the elderly. Gaidar’s meeting with voters on Oct. 20 was attended mostly by pensioners concerned with the low quality of social services, including healthcare.

The difference between Saakashvili’s team and other candidates is that they “are not part of the current oligarchic elite,” Gaidar told the Kyiv Post.

The major challenges that both Borovik and Gaidar face are their relatively low level of recognition and voter apathy. Specifically, they have to mobilize young voters who are usually reluctant to take to the polls, unlike the elderly.

“We’re competing with general apathy,” Gaidar said.” We’re competing with (people sitting on) the couch…and a lack of faith.”

She says that voters are tired of all politicians.

“Every time they elect someone, nothing major changes, and the same people remain and work under similar rules,” she said.

Stanyslav Zinchuk, a student of Odesa National Polytechnic University, underscored Gaidar’s point. He told the Kyiv Post he was unhappy with Trukhanov’s performance but was not sure that Borovik would deliver on his promises.

“There’s no one to vote for because everyone makes promises, but there’s no point in it,” he said. “The old government promised a lot; the new one also does, but the results have been zero.”

Unlike Gaidar and Borovik, Trukhanov, who has run the city since May 2014, caters to an audience with a more Soviet mentality and a more paternalistic view of the state.

Like many incumbent mayors, in his campaign he relies on populism, administrative resources and budget funds, critics say.

Trukhanov has also been accused of financing and organizing the pro-Russian protests seen in Odesa last year and of being an ally of Yury Ivanyushchenko, a Yanukovych associate who is wanted on embezzlement charges.

Trukhanov’s spokeswoman, Natalya Maltseva, said by phone that she could not comment on the accusations.

He is currently the front-runner in the mayoral race with a strong lead.

SOCIS, a Ukrainian polling agency, said on Oct. 16 that its poll shows that Trukhanov would get 51.3 percent of the vote, while Borovik would receive 15.1 percent. Ex-Odesa Mayor Eduard Gurvits, who targets pro-European voters, would get 14.1 percent.

However, Borovik has a high chance of making it into the second round of voting, according to a political consultant for Borovik who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. A second-round vote will be held if the leading candidate fails to get more than 50 percent of the vote in the first poll.

Serhiy Kivalov, a lawmaker and ex-Yanukovych ally, would end up with 9.1 percent, and Svetlana Fabrikant from Vidrodzhennya, a party of ex-Yanykovych supporters, is expected to get 4.4 percent of the vote, according to SOCIS.

Kivalov backed out of the race on Oct. 10, attributing his decision to a grenade being thrown into the courtyard of his house the previous day.

However, under Ukrainian law a candidate cannot cancel their registration later than 18 days before the election, so Kivalov’s name will still be on the ballots.

Analysts have stated that Kivalov’s participation in the election was due to a deal with either Gurvits or Borovik, as Kivalov would take away voters from Trukhanov. His refusal to run, on the other hand, has been attributed to an agreement with Trukhanov.

As in the mayoral race, candidates linked to the Yanukovych-era dominate the elections for Odesa’s regional and city councils. Apart from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the strongest parties competing in these elections are offshoots of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions – Trukhanov’s Doveryai Delam (Trust in Deeds), Kivalov’s Ukrainian Sea Party, Vidrodzhennya (Renaissance) and the Opposition Bloc.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].