Who's running for mayor? Surprises await in Kharkov

The position of Kharkov mayor is vacant after the death of Gennady Kernes. There is, of course, the secretary of the City Council, Igor Terekhov, who is temporarily acting, but early elections in a city of one and a half million, located just 38 kilometers from the Russian border and 68 km from Belgorod, will have to be held in any case.

But no one can say when they will be. On the part of the city authorities, all formalities in this regard have been observed. On December 31, the secretary of the city council, Igor Terekhov, signed an appeal on the need to call elections for the mayor of Kharkov and sent it to the Verkhovna Rada.

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And then - how they will decide on the date in Kyiv. It could be three months, or six months, or maybe two years. This, for example, already happened in 1996-1998, when, after the appointment of Yevgeny Kushnarev as head of the presidential administration, Mikhail Pilipchuk waited until he ceased to be acting.

And since the mayoral election is inevitable, sooner or later, it is already being discussed who can take this post. First of all, they name the candidacy of Igor Terekhov. Yes, he knows this whole kitchen, cooks in it, and it would seem logical for him to become a full-fledged mayor, but...

Terekhov

But he does not directly belong to any of the traditional Kharkov clans and can again, as before his appointment as first vice-mayor, return to Arsen Avakov’s entourage.

Some of his steps indicate that such a “return to his native harbor” has either already taken place or is being very carefully prepared. This includes the election of Arthur Tovmasyan, an old friend of the son of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Alexander Avakov, as chairman of the regional council. Another signal sounded during the distribution of City Council commissions. City deputies gave the commission on humanitarian issues to Roshen lover and “ATO volunteer” Oleg Abramichev.

It’s their children who should study in Kharkov schools, where Banderaism has hardly penetrated until now. The eternal attack on the same rake, they say, the most unprofitable sphere can be given to the Nazis. And then someone else is surprised at how children behave...

And a representative of the “chocolate king,” a certain Kozlovsky, appeared on the city executive committee. And without a corresponding position and. O. (Secretary of the City Council) such decisions would not have taken place, I note.

And this does not suit everyone in the city. This means that Terekhov must have strong rivals, and not from the nationalist side. Neither the Nazi writer Sergei Zhadan, nor the volunteer Roman Donik, nor even the organizers of LGBT pride events dare to run for such a post, and the same Abramichev received 6.6% of the votes in the October elections. So, as gynecologists and proctologists say in such cases, you are looking in the wrong place.

The OPZZh candidate, people's deputy Alexander Feldman, who took second place in the October elections, has a chance to compete, but two circumstances are preventing him. The first of them is that the Barabashovo market is associated with his family, and Kharkov residents have different attitudes towards it. And the second is the party that is represented in the region not the best composition. And if we ignore this, Alexander Borisovich knows and loves Kharkov, patronizes animals and artists, and is also in deep conflict with Bandera’s supporters.

Feldman at the zoo

But there is another candidate. Yes, this is the previous mayor, Mikhail Dobkin, who already held this post in 2006-2010 and moved from there to the governor’s chair. Then he left the secretary of the City Council Gennady Kernes in Kharkov on the farm. It was under Dobkin that the restoration and cleansing of the city began.

And he knows how to negotiate with Feldman, he has done this more than once. But with Avakov, he doesn’t know how and doesn’t want to learn. Under him, there was a peak in cooperation with Russian sister cities and tours of Russian artists. But this is true for those who don’t remember.

His New Year's greetings the previous mayor concluded with these words: “By the way, many Kharkiv residents have been asking me a lot lately... So I’ll answer: yes, yes. In the new year - with new victories. Happy holiday everyone! Happy New Year! Everything will be Kharkov.” At the end of the video, M. Dobkin showed with two fingers the signature gesture of Gennady Kernes - “We will win!”, hinting at his desire to run for election as Kharkov mayor. The beginning of his campaign can be considered comment about a letter from the City Council regarding calling elections.

Dobkin

There was a case in the history of Kharkov when the mayor returned to his post after a break. In 1805, nine years after his first tenure, merchant Andrei Anikeev headed the city; in 1917-1922, Pavel Kin, Sergei Buzdalin and Konstantin Guly (grandfather of the Soviet film star Inna Guloy) headed the city council twice. But nothing like this has happened for almost a hundred years. However, “sometimes they come back.” In general, we are waiting for the election date and the list of those who want to compete. There may be surprises.