Magazines feature her on their front covers. She appears on television shows and news programs more than most opposition politicians. Her face is plastered on billboards across Kyiv and many other Ukrainian cities.
But most Ukrainians don’t even know who Natalia Korolevska is, according to pollsters, and only 1.3 percent of voters would support her in a presidential ballot.
Korolevska, 36, was a lawmaker in ex-Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s BYuT minority faction until she was kicked out earlier this month. She had aroused much suspicion by her ambition and apparent attempts to use protests against Tymoshenko’s jailing last autumn to boost her own popularity.
She now heads the Ukraine-Forward party, the former Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, a marginal group she took over last December after leaving Tymoshenko’s party.
Her intense advertising campaign, which experts estimate has cost millions of hryvnias, is the latest attempt by a politician to boost their ratings by shelling out huge sums to increase visibility.
But despite Korolevska’s maneuvering and expensive campaign, she hasn’t made a breakthrough in polls ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on Oct. 28.
“The intensity of an ad campaign does not necessarily transform into popularity,” said Andriy Bychenko, a sociologist at the Razumkov Center.
He said politicians won’t raise much support through advertisement alone.
Analysts argue that it takes time to build up the trust of people, who after years of empty political promises tend to believe not in election campaign slogans but in real actions.
“People value real actions much more than slogans, advertisement campaign and promises,” Bychenko said “Throughout [20] years of independence people heard so many promises that if only 10 percent of all that was fulfilled, Ukraine would be the richest country in the world.”
The intensity of an ad campaign does not necessarily transform into popularity.
– Andriy Bychenko, a sociologist at the Razumkov Center.
Volomydyr Paniotto, head of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, said Korolevska is struggling to raise her rating because of competition and infighting in the opposition.
“It is hard for Korolevska to raise her rating as there are many opposition politicians to compete with and there is an internecine war going on in the opposition,” Paniotto said.
Nevertheless, Korolevska has placed her bet on a series of posters carrying her portrait and the slogan “New Economy – New Country.” The previous campaign showed her on the front page of Kommentarii magazine with a quote “Protect everyone.”
The frequent appearance of Korolevska on TV and in magazines and newspapers has led to widespread claims she was paying for coverage.
A recording played on News One channel on March 5 appeared to catch an advertising executive offering money for a clip about Korolevska to be shown as part of a news report. Korolevska has denied paying for coverage.
Her critics, including in the Batkivshchyna party, have speculated that wide exposure is a sign of her ties to President Viktor Yanukovych, who is aligned with the oligarchs who own most TV stations. She denies the allegation.
Artem Bidenko, head of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Ukraine, estimated that up to Hr 10 million ($1.25 million) has been spent on Korolevska’s ad campaign so far.
Her press service did not give any figures about expenditures on her ad campaign, saying it is a “commercial secret.”
A native of the eastern city of Luhansk, Korolevska worked for several years as a businesswoman. She worked for her family’s ice cream business, which she has said her parents sold last summer, before moving into politics as a deputy in the BYuT faction.
Portraying herself as a defender of small and medium businesses, she led a few small protests calling for tax legislation that would be favorable for smaller firms.
It is hard for Korolevska to raise her rating as there are many opposition politicians to compete with and there is an internecine war going on in the opposition.
– Volomydyr Paniotto, head of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
But her colleagues tossed her out of the Tymoshenko faction in parliament, accusing her of betrayal by not voting in support of a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s resolution. That January resolution called for the amendment of the criminal code in a way that could set Tymoshenko free.
Opponents accuse her of trying to capitalize on Tymoshenko’s name by vocally insisting that she is fighting for her release from prison. Others said she was trying to replace her erstwhile ally, using good looks and fiery rhetoric reminiscent of Tymoshenko.
Korolevska said her removal from the bloc had not been agreed with Tymoshenko, and that the current leaders had done it in order to sell places on the party list for the elections.
“It was painful when two Chekists stuck a knife into my back,” she said, apparently referring to top BYuT officials Oleksandr Turchynov and Andriy Kozhemyakin, using the old name for the Soviet KGB. “They exchanged [Tymoshenko’s] values for informal agreements in order to seize power in the bloc in order to [be able] to sell places in the party list.”
Korolevska has since taken her campaign to Europe, hosting a conference in Brussels on March 27 called “Next Steps in Ukraine’s EU Integration.”
Despite her extensive efforts, however, a February poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology places Korolevska’s support as a potential presidential candidate at 1.3 percent, which is lower than the margin of error. Backing for her party is even lower.
In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, she expressed confidence that her party will become popular enough to pass the 5 percent threshold for entering parliament.
Advertising expert Bidenko said Korolevska’s low poll figures derive from low awareness of her as a political brand, as less than 40 percent of the nation knows who she is.
“A huge ad campaign is needed to raise this figure to 90 percent,” he said, explaining why she is advertising so aggressively. He added that the next step is to boost people’s loyalty by taking part in debates, for example. “It takes years” to accomplish, he said.
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Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected].
