Very soon, on October 31, special mayoral elections will be held in Kharkiv. Citizens will decide who will replace the long-time leader of the second capital, Gennady Kernes, who passed away in December last year.
Of course, many candidates have already announced their participation in the elections, but according to experts' forecasts, the battle for the mayor's seat will unfold between only two candidates - Igor Terekhov and Mikhail Dobkin.
Igor Terekhov
Undoubtedly, one of the favorites in the current race is the current acting mayor, secretary of the city council, Igor Terekhov. However, if not long ago his position seemed unshakable, but a few weeks ago the situation changed radically.
This happened after Kharkiv was shaken by the high-profile resignations of top officials — the chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council, Artur Tovmasyan, and the head of the regional office of the National Police, Andrei Rubel. The fact is that both officials were considered one hundred percent people of Arsen Avakov, who after the death of Kernes successfully built his vertical in Kharkov. In addition, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Aina Tymchuk, remained in her post. Although she formally belonged to the president's team, she also had a long-term relationship with Avakov.
Now, after a series of dismissals, Avakov's position has seriously weakened, and the Avakov vertical, which was supposed to provide Terekhov with the support of administrative resources in the elections, has practically disappeared.
Accordingly, Terekhov's pre-election positions have significantly deteriorated. On the other hand, he may well apply for support in the Office of the President, in which he is not at all averse to getting the controlled millionaire mayor of the city.
In addition, the nomination of Terekhov from the party "Block Kernes - Successful Kharkiv" will probably also add percentages to his rating.
MIKHAIL DOBKIN
The second favorite is Mikhail Dobkin. He has 100% recognition, the status of the successor to Kernes, with whom he is closely associated in the memory of Ukrainians (remember "Hepa" and "Dopa"?), plus he was already the governor and mayor of Kharkov, and not the worst. It has its own solid electorate, media resources and access to all-Ukrainian mass media. By the way, his frequent broadcasts on Rynata Akhmetov's TV channels suggest that he, at least, has secured the support of the oligarch.
The downside is that since 2014, during the time of the "late" Kernes, Dobkin has practically dropped out of Kharkov's public life, and the townspeople have already managed to sort of forget him.
THE THIRD SIDE
But the third party in these elections has not yet been observed. There is talk of a possible "horse-walking" member of the OPZZ, a large businessman and the owner of the Barabashovo market, Alexander Feldman, who generally sympathizes more with Dobkin, or the oligarch Alexander Yaroslavsky, who, on the contrary, secretly supports Igor Terekhov.
However, there was only a month and a half left before the elections, and no motions on the part of Feldman and Yaroslavsky were made. Therefore, most likely, in the future they will prefer to just wait.
People's Deputy Yulia Svetlichnaya, head of Kharkiv region under President Poroshenko, has also clearly declared her participation in the elections and has already started her election campaign.
Recently, she tried to enlist the support of several all-Ukrainian parties, but to no avail. Therefore, in the end, the People's Deputy created its own political force - "Svetlychnaya Bloc "Razom!", from which it will run for office.
SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE LEFT FROM A DISTANCE
At the same time, political experts assured that pre-election schedules in Kharkiv could be confused by a "dark horse" from the presidential party "Servant of the People" if they nominate a candidate respected in the city. However, on September 7, it became known that the political force decided to refuse to participate in the mayoral elections and not to nominate anyone.
This was reported by the head of its parliamentary faction, Davyd Arakhamia, following the results of the Servant of the People party congress. He explained this decision by the fact that the party does not have a strong candidate who could fight for this post.
On the other hand, party representatives can go to the elections as self-nominated, but they will not be able to use party symbols.
Which of the other candidates for the post of mayor will the "servants of the people" support, and whether they will support them at all, it is difficult to say in the party.
IMPOSSIBLE
The obviously impenetrable candidates are pro-Ukrainian forces whose positions in Kharkiv are quite weak.
On August 28, the city held a vote for a single candidate from the pro-Ukrainian camp, who will represent all Maidan forces at once. The candidate was selected by representatives of "National Corps", "Right Sector", "European Solidarity", "Demsokira" and "Voices. "
The choice of parties fell on volunteer and ATO participant Konstantin Nemychev.
He became the only candidate, however, the "EC" did not agree with the choice of the majority, they left the process and officially nominated their own candidate, entrepreneur Alexander Skoryk.
Also, up to 10% of Kharkiv residents are ready to support former People's Deputy, leader of the "Nash" party Yevgeny Muraev, but he has already officially declared that he has no desire to apply for the post of mayor of Kharkiv.
In any case, the official end of the registration of candidates will take place only on September 30, which means that Kharkiv residents can still see new faces on this list — and the continuation will follow...
