Although the popularity of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions has plummeted to an all-time low, political consultants have managed to save some of its remnants.
The Opposition Bloc, which consists of politicians linked to the pro-Russian Party of Regions and the disgraced Yanukovych’s regime, has managed to significantly boost its rating in the run-up to the Oct. 26 parliamentary election.
As of Sept. 22, 3.2 percent of those who planned to vote chose the Opposition Bloc, according to the Aktiv-Group polling agency, while as of Oct. 18 its rating amounted to 5.9 percent, according to the Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
This was attributed to the bloc’s aggressive advertising campaign and its efforts to disassociate itself from the Party of Regions and Russia and to mobilize the protest vote.
Most top members of the Opposition Bloc called by the Kyiv Post either declined to comment or were not available.
The Opposition Bloc has been described as a rebranded Party of Regions. Both have their main base of support in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
“You kill one monster, and it turns into two other monsters,” political analyst Vitaly Bala said by phone, referring to the Opposition Bloc and former Yanukovych-era Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine.
The Opposition Bloc comprises parties consisting of former Party of Regions members and parties associated with the Yanukovych regime. These include the Party of Development, the Center, New Policy, State Neutrality, Ukraine – Forward! and Labor Ukraine.
In the top 10 of the Opposition Bloc’s list, five are current members of the Party of Regions, and three are former ones.
Yuriy Boyko, No. 1 on the bloc’s list, was Yanukovych’s fuel and energy minister in 2010 to 2012 and a deputy prime minister in 2012 to 2014. Alexander Vilkul, No. 2, was governor of Dnipropetrovsk in 2010 to 2014 and a deputy prime minister in 2012 to 2014.
Mykhailo Dobkin, No. 3, was the governor of Kharkiv in 2010 to 2014, while Serhiy Lyovochkin, No. 12, was Yanukovych’s chief of staff in the same period.
Many members of parliament on the bloc’s list voted for Yanukovych’s “dictatorial laws” of Jan. 16, which restricted civil liberties and sparked an uprising that overthrew him on Feb. 22.
Like the Party of Regions, the bloc has the backing of big business, which has enabled it to fund a massive advertising campaign. Its list includes tycoon Vadim Novinsky, No. 11, while Nestor Shufrich, No. 7, and Natalia Korolevska, No. 8, also reportedly have business interests. Another businessman on the list is Vadim Ravinovich, No. 4, chairman of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and a candidate in the May 25 presidential election.
Analysts have also linked the bloc to Ukraine’s wealthiest tycoon Rinat Akhmetov, a major Yanukovych ally.
The Opposition Bloc has been accused by critics of assembling people associated with Yanukovych-era corruption.
Boyko is a witness in a major corruption case involving state oil and gas firm Chernomorneftegaz, which was supervised by his Fuel and Energy Ministry. In September Tetyana Chornovol, former head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, accused Boyko, Lyovochkin and other Yanukovych allies of being involved in a number of corrupt schemes.
Boyko was not available for comment, while Lyovochkin declined to comment on the issue.
To distance itself from Yanukovych-era corruption, the Opposition Bloc has avoided any associations with the Party of Regions and the former president.
“They don’t even hint that they have something to do with the Party of Regions,” said sociologist Iryna Bekeshkina, head of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
Shufrich told the Kyiv Post that the bloc had nothing to do with Yanukovych. “What attitude can we have to a leader who fled his own country and his own people?” he said.
In its efforts to disassociate itself from the Party of Regions, the Opposition Bloc has gone as far as to claim the mantle of people’s protectors from government oppression.
One of Opposition Bloc campaign posters posted on its Facebook page on Oct. 23 featured EuroMaidan protesters clashing with riot police and read “the Opposition Bloc will protect the people from the government’s criminal actions.” The poster was at odds with many Opposition Bloc members’ strongly negative attitude to the EuroMaidan movement.
Similarly to the Party of Regions, the Opposition Bloc has been described by critics as Russia’s “fifth column.”
The bloc’s platform envisages protecting the status of Russian as a regional language and negotiating with Russia on achieving peace in eastern Ukraine. The bloc also aims to preserve the country’s non-aligned status and prevent it from becoming a NATO member.
Bala called the Opposition Bloc “a party of defeatists” that was promoting the Kremlin’s interests.
The bloc has also actively pushed for maximum decentralization – a slogan resembling federalization proposals by the Party of Regions and pro-Russian separatists in Donbas. The Kremlin has urged Ukraine to become a federation in what some see as an effort to keep some Ukrainian regions out of Kyiv’s orbit.
Some of the bloc’s members have ties with Russia and pro-Russian groups.
In 1996 to 2007 Shufrich was a member of the Social Democratic Party, which was headed by Viktor Medvedchuk, who is often described as Ukraine’s pro-Russian politician par excellence and a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Medvedchuk was initially in talks with the Opposition Bloc on running on their list but eventually his candidacy was dropped.
Another member of the bloc, Novinsky, has lived most of his life in Russia and sponsors the Russian Orthodox Church’s Ukrainian branch.
However, Shufrich denied the claim that the bloc was pro-Russian, saying it was acting in the interests of Ukraine. “Our position is peace in united Ukraine within the borders of 1991,” he said.
To prevent critics from calling it a tool of the Kremlin, the bloc has shifted its focus from foreign policy to social issues. They have emphasized the issue of wages, pensions and social benefits in their campaign, Bekeshkina said.
Another reason why the bloc’s rating increased is its efforts to mobilize the protest vote.
Bala said the government’s mistakes had helped the bloc in this task. “This is not the Opposition Bloc’s achievement,” he said. “This is the current government’s ‘achievement’.”
The mobilization of opposition sentiment is what gives the Opposition Bloc an upper hand compared to the former ruling Party of Regions, Bekeshkina said.
Shufrich said that the bloc would oppose not only the Poroshenko Bloc but also other pro-European parties. “We will be in opposition to any pro-government political force, including (President Petro) Poroshenko, (Prime Minister Arseniy) Yatsenyuk and Batkivshchyna,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
