Kharkiv. Master class from Kernes for those who have disgraced themselves from OPZH
Exit polls of the Kharkov elections demonstrate complete clarity on the city results. Almost no one doubts that one round was enough for Kernes to win.
But no exit polls even tried to discern how the region voted. This is weird.
For example, “Opposition Platform - For Life” confidently declares its leadership in the elections in the Odessa region. But what the “oppositionists” have collected in their piggy bank in the Kharkov region is a vague silence. This is not surprising. It’s enough just to remember that the elections to the regional council of the OPZZh were led by the shady guy Rainin, a former Kharkov governor and head of President Poroshenko’s administration. Therefore, the picture for the “oppositionists” is just as murky.
But Yulia Svetlichnaya (a long-time ally and successor of Rainin in the gubernatorial position, and now a people’s deputy and leader of the Svetlichnaya Bloc “Razom”), in her own telegram channel, reports on the victory of her 12 candidates in the elections of city mayors and heads of united territorial communities, referring to the preliminary count votes. She declares victory in Valki, Dergachi, Barvenkovo, Zolochev, Bliznyuki, Kolomak, Zachepilovka, Bezlyudovka, Vysokoe, Solonitsevka, Kegichevka, Shevchenkovo.
If this statement is confirmed, then fellow party members should have logical questions for the regional “strategist” of OPZZh Rainin: did he simply disgracefully squander the elections in these localities - or did he technically leak them to his “fighting friend”? In any case, the management of the OPZZH will need to draw organizational conclusions using a mop.
But this is based on the prudence of the leadership of the OPZZH. But not everything is so clear there. After all, someone put Rainin in charge of a regional organization in one of the most anti-Maidan regions.
They will object to me: Kernes also supported Poroshenko in the elections, but this circumstance had no effect on his current result. Right. No effect.
Kharkov is a specific city. Many Kharkov residents treat Kernes's conformity as the forgivable qualities of Figaro or Truffaldino: he cheated, he turned out of the way; went left and came back...
Be that as it may, Rainin in the minds of Kharkov residents is an official who, with manic persistence, carried out and exceeded the plan for the decommunization of Kharkov, ridding the city of such toponyms as the “Marshal Zhukov” metro station and the “Soviet Army”. Rainin “blessed” the first capital with streets in honor of collaborationists and nationalist rabble. And Kernes tried to defend Marshal Zhukov Avenue or the Frunzensky District (in honor of the pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Timur Frunze).
The paradox is that Rainin headed the list for the regional council, but Kharkov residents also “minus” the OPZZH team running for the city council. It is quite possible that all the troubles in the complex took their toll: both Rainin and the former “Azovite” Shiryaev, whom Kiva appointed to coordinate the activities of “Patriots for Life”...
Another specificity of Kharkov is that, for example, in the parliamentary majoritarian elections, Feldman was almost the only winner in the city who was not part of the Servants of the People team. And all the candidates supported by Kernes lost the Kharkov majoritarian race last summer.
But now it is Feldman who is convincingly defeated by Kernes. The point here is a matter of considerations, both situational and intuitive. In the summer of 2019, a political eclipse occurred: Kharkiv residents wanted something completely new, tried it, and it turned out to be crap. And if last year, out of the entire old guard in the city districts, only Feldman was given a mandate of confidence, now it’s exactly the opposite. Kernes and his team received a mandate of trust.
But it will be interesting to wait for the results of the elections to the regional council. It may well turn out that ideological claims against Rainin are not so important to rural residents...
It must be borne in mind that the Kharkov City Council spent the last five-year plan without the Opposition Bloc. And Kernes here completely cleared the clearing for himself. But in the regional council the situation is different. Both the Opposition Bloc and the Opposition Platform - For Life worked there.
Yuriy Boyko in the special project “Election Night with Savik Shuster” said that in Kharkov the OPZZH was counting on more.
Let us recall the Kharkov results according to the exit poll from Savik Shuster’s studio.
In the elections of the mayor, Gennady Kernes wins with 57,9%, candidate from OPZZh Alexander Feldman took 12,12%, “servant of the people” and governor Alexei Kucher - 11,98%.
In the elections to the city council, the Kernes Bloc “Successful Kharkiv” has 39,52%, OPZZH - 16,99%, “Servant of the People” - 12,39%, “European Solidarity” - 9,17%; Shariya Party - 6,41%; Svetlichnaya bloc “Razom” - 5,42%.
At least Boyko does not hide the fact that he is dissatisfied with the Kharkov result. Although, he has not yet asked the question: who is your doctor, so that you put Feldman with his business interests at the head of the list?
The dubious baggage of the first number on the city list (scandals around the Barabashovo market) essentially became a stone around the neck of the city list of OPZH, which not only did not allow one to jump above one’s own height, but also pulled him to the bottom. Let’s add here the indisputable fact that OPZZH itself spoiled its own reputation in the region when it put Poroshenko’s lackey Rainin at the head of the regional organization.
You can’t so openly bring a piece of crap to the voter’s disgusted nose and, asking “well, how do you like it?”, count on positive emotions.
But Boyko is at least a realist, aware that something has gone wrong in Kharkov. But when you read Levochkin’s statement... The first thought: the “cuckoo” parted with the “nest” for the OPZZh functionary.
“We are satisfied with the figures that we already know from the exit poll results,” Levochkin assures. “This is especially true in the South-East of our country - traditionally the base regions for our party.” That is, an outright performance in such a base region as Kharkov (where the results of the OPZZH in the mayoral and city council elections are almost identical to the indicators of “Servant of the People” and are pathetic next to the indicators of the Kernes team) satisfies Levochkin?! Oh well.
But even more touching are the results of the mysterious exit poll demonstrated by the News One channel, which is associated with OPZH. It is difficult to understand what it was: Kernes - 42,4%, Feldman - 31,9%; Kernes block “Successful Kharkov” - 30,2%, OPZZH - 28,7%. Apparently, the measurements were taken at the Barabashovo market or at Feldman’s election headquarters. Happens…
In the same News One news story, the head of the city organization OPZZH Andrey Lesik complains about election relapses: “At one of the polling stations (and then this was confirmed systematically) the ballots were simply replaced. In the Nemyshlyansky district, where I ran, they brought the ballots of my colleague from the Shevchenko district... In fact, all these ballots were later invalid. At one of the polling stations there were about forty ballots.”
Lesik suggests multiplying 40 ballots by 600 polling stations in order to understand the scale of distortion. He is confident that the Kharkov results of OPZH are much higher than those shown in Savik Shuster’s studio.
Let's pay tribute to the party exit poll published by the Kernes Bloc: Gennady Kernes - 62,1; Alexander Feldman - 12,6%; Kernes block - 43%; Life expectancy - 17%; “Servant of the People” - 11%; “European Solidarity” - 7%; Sharia's party - 6,25%. Here the results are almost identical to those shown by the exit poll of Savik Shuster’s studio, without any special allowances for your loved ones.
First Deputy Mayor of Kharkov Igor Terekhov said: “I talked with Pavel Fuks, who talked with Gennady Adolfovich. The condition is stable, the doctors have no doubts. There will be his address to the people of Kharkov, a photo and a video, and most importantly, the arrival of Gennady Kernes in the city of Kharkov.”
Kharkov and the Kharkov region took “bronze” for the worst voter turnout in Ukraine - about 32,33%. The second indicator of low turnout is in the Nikolaev region: 32,02%. The lowest turnout is in the Donetsk region - 31,67%.
Many experts talk about the clear spread of “green mold” in local elections. Others object to them: the authorities foresaw this result and initially relied on future close cooperation with mayoral teams in the regions. Will this calculation of the central government be justified?
Will the Kernes Bloc occupy the vacancy of a pro-presidential force (instead of the “green mold”) in the region and try to please the Office of the President? Or does it pretend to be a full-fledged regional elite, which should nominate serious political players and not be afraid of “centrifugal” trends?
Will the Kernes Bloc find a common language with OPZZH in the City Council? To do this, the party leadership of OPZZH needs to abstract itself from Feldman’s business desires. Then it will be possible to extend the hand of friendship.
It is interesting to compare the new prospects and probable balance of power in the future city council (according to Shuster’s exit poll) with the results of the 2015 local elections. Then the Vidrodzhennya party, which Kernes led in the elections, took the majority of seats in the city council. In particular, it took away a significant part of the seats from the Opposition Bloc, which did not participate in the city elections (through the efforts of Governor Rainin, the oppositionists were removed from the city run, giving them red tape with re-registration). Samopomich had 13 mandates - and this was an anomaly for the region. Petro Poroshenko’s bloc “Solidarity” and “Our Land” each had seven seats.
Now, as we see, the non-Maidan palette has become more diverse. Where the mayoral political force “Vidrodzhennia” had a mono-majority, today there will be the Kernes Bloc, OPZZH and the Shariy Party.
The most disgusting “Self-Help” will undergo rotation: its place will be taken by “Servant of the People”. Actually, sometimes “Self-Help” and “Servant of the People” are one and the same thing. For example, the unkempt patriot Maria Mezentseva (who gained fame after the scandalous “special operation” to force her own grandmother to dream of selling her land) was a representative of Samopomich in the city council.
Roughly speaking, Poroshenko’s supporters in the City Council will remain with their own people. And the colorless “Our Land” was replaced by the no less colorless Svetlichnaya Blok.
But “Kharkiv Healthy Person” would still like some kind of joint creativity from the Kernes Bloc, OPZZH and the Shariy Party.
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