Pavlo Zhebrivsky, an auditor of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and a former head of the Donetsk region’s military-civilian administration, is planning to take part in next year’s parliamentary elections with a right-leaning party reflecting the sentiments of eastern Ukraine.
“There is demand for an outspoken political force in Donbas. […] I will start forming an ideologically right-wing party. This political force will have serious branches in Donetsk region as well. […] We’ll be preparing for the 2019 parliamentary elections,” Zhebrivsky said in an interview with Gazeta.ua published last July 20.
“Donetsk region is Ukraine. We keep talking, writing, and chattering, but we don’t realize that Ukrainians are living there. If we wanted to win, then every big city, every region would partner and work with a community from Donetsk or Luhansk region. There are no ideological parties. There are projects. Politics is perceived as a technology,” he said.
For a democracy to thrive in Donetsk region, it needs to “work on de-monopolizing its economy,” he said. “Unless this is done, 90 percent of the region’s economy will remain in the hands of five families. And then a return to something like the Party of Regions would be imminent. For big business to arrive and to create jobs […] we need to make a high-tech economy,” Zhebrivsky said.
On June 19, President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree appointing him to an independent auditing commission in charge of monitoring NABU’s work.
Zhebrivsky became the head of Donetsk administration in June 2015. On June 13, 2018, the president accepted his voluntary resignation.
