You're reading: Kyiv’s hot races: City mayor vs. Svoboda activist

When acting Kyiv Mayor Halyna Gerega decided to run for parliament, she probably did not anticipate tough competition from a 25-year-old Svoboda Party activist.

As the vote count progresses in district 215 on the left bank of Kyiv, it is still unclear if Gerega will win over Andriy Illenko.

As of 4:30
p.m. on Oct.30, Illenko leads with 33.04 percent. Gerega is
behind with 32.99
percent.

Almost two
days after the polling stations closed at 8 p.m. on Oct. 28,
92.4 percent of
ballots were counted.

“Some of
them had mistakes, like lacking signatures, or stamps. In one
polling station
they have mixed the votes from party lists and single mandate
constituencies,”
said district elections commission member Valentyna Fedorivska.
These ballots
are being recounted.

There were,
however, reports of attempts to pressure commission head Ivan
Kartavyi, but he
declined to comment.

Svoboda says
the slow count is aimed at falsifying the vote. “This is being
dragged on and
on to make fraud in the last minute,” said Illenko, who has
spent two days and
nights in the district commission building on Mayakovskogo
Street with his
team. According to Illenko, he has copies of all the protocols
which show he won
by more than 500 votes.

Candidate
Gerega
was not present during the count.  

Svoboda is
determined to protect its votes. Dozens of activists of the
right-wing party
have gathered outside the hall where the recount is being held.
They chant “Glory
to Ukraine! Gloryto heroes” from time to time. A dozen police
officers blocked
the entrance and only let journalists inside.  

Meanwhile,
inside the hall, the head of the polling station in one of the
districts, Ihor Kyrnytsya, talked to journalists about how, according to him,
representatives
of Gerega tried to bribe him in the elections night.

“When the
votes were counted, and we were about to sign the protocols, my
deputy, who
represents Gerega, called me outside to talk. He suggested that
I change the
protocol for $2,000. I declined,” says Krynytsya. He added that,
after a while,
he was approached by an unknown man who, despite the polling
stations being
shut down and protected by the police, got in and offered him
$10,000. “He said
– don’t be afraid, nobody will know about this. What do you
want? A car?
$13,000? Name your price!” Krynytsya alleged.

Ihor Kyrnytsya, the head of the polling station in one of the districts (Svitlana Tuchynska)

Krynytsya
declined the offer. He says in his polling station, the race was
very close: Illenko
received 505 votes and Herega 473.

Gerega was
not immediately available to comment.

In addition to heading the city council in Kyiv and acting as a city mayor,
Gerega is also a
wealthy businesswoman. Together with her husband Oleksandr, who
is also running
for parliament, she owns DIY (do it yourself)
hypermarket Epicenter.

Oleksandr has an estimated
fortune of $400
million and took 33rd place in the 2010 Kyiv Post’s list of
richest Ukrainians.

His wife
is
running as an independent, although she works closely with the
ruling
pro-presidential Party of Regions in the city council.    

Illenko is a
member of Kyiv Oblast Council and is a prominent Svoboda
activist. He is famous
for his nationalistic rhetoric and anti-immigration views.  

Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana
Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].