Ukraine’s political parties are ready to sell their own birthright to newer political forces for a great deal of money. The law on local elections, authored by Party of Regions parliamentarian Oleksandr Yefremov and approved by the Verkhovna Rada, is yet to be signed by the president. If it becomes law, it would effectively legalize political corruption by creating a “black market” of political parties in the country.
The law allows participation in the fall local elections for only political forces that had registered their local organizations at least a year prior to the election. That means the parties had to be registered by Oct. 31, 2009. According to the new law, nomination of mayoral candidates is also an exclusive prerogative of political parties. Before, office-seekers could nominate themselves.
Obviously, these clauses are not only discrediting, but senseless. The political process is a live process and, in Ukraine, very dynamic and changing all the time.
The latest presidential election, where people voted not for but rather against the candidate (meaning that President Viktor Yanukovych’s victory owed to an anti-Tymoshenko vote), has clearly revealed a crisis in traditional political brands.
The political forces that have been shaping the country in the last five years are still receiving votes by inertia, rather than by conviction. The high performance of new political leaders, including Sergiy Tigipko and Arseniy Yatseniuk, who finished in third and fourth places, respectively, were a clear signal that the society is ready for new political forces.
But the new law proposed by Yefremov is an attempt to preserve the political status quo of a year ago.It’s an attempt to prevent new political forces from coming to power in local governments. Alternatively, the measure is also corrupting, since new political forces have to go to the “black market” and buy an existing party with many local branches registered in time.
As a functionary of a political force who managed to register more than 60 percent of its local branches in time, I am quite confident that Strong Ukraine – led by Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko — will take part in the election and show a good result.
But what about other political forces go that are only just taking their first steps to formalize their political platform? What about the ones that have only managed to register a few dozen organizations in the regions but who have a high level of trust from the voters? They will be pushed to “buy up” party structures.
The actual process is not difficult. Today’s market offers more than 70 political forces ready to be sold. The question is for how much money and for what conditions.
Option one is buying a set of registration documents and stamps. The seller opens up all data about every registered branch, picks up the bill related to the organizations’ expenses, takes a pre-payment and conducts all other preparations. All of the branches hold conferences that take a decision to merge with the buyer’s party. Then a joint congress is held under the new brand.
Option two is selling people. The seller puts forward a condition that, after the merger, the new party owners have to keep the party’s original people, which will be guaranteed seats in local councils and jobs in the local executive power structures.
The cost of political parties today ranges from $250,000 to $1 million, which is not terribly expensive.
The cost of political parties today ranges from $250,000 to $1 million, which is not terribly expensive. By comparison, in autumn 2008, when President Viktor Yushchenko was considering dismissing the parliament, the cost of parties was in the range of $400,000 to $3 million – a bargain since every seat in parliament was worth $5 million at the time.
Evidently, by encouraging political corruption, the authors of the law on local elections wanted to frame the representatives of new political forces, especially those who declare new moral standards. Later, they will be able to say with mock shock: “What new moral standards? They’ve been caught at the cookie jar!”
On the other hand, many of the countries that are now considered democratic have gone through the process of buying and selling parties. In France, it happened about 60 years ago; in Britain, 160 and in the USA, 130 years back. These are the countries where parties were bought and sold, and where political corruption flourished in different forms.
If it had not been for political corruption, perhaps, there would be no genius of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. So, hopefully for Ukraine, this provides an element of growth and maturing, a sort of a child’s disease of the political system. Hopefully, after getting over it, the state will become stronger and more stable.
Ukraine has survived worse historic ordeals than Yefremov’s law. It’s a law that became outdated before it was even approved, and it’s doomed for revision, even if the revision comes five years later.
Kost Bondarenko is deputy head of Strong Ukraine, the political party headed by Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko. Previously, he headed the Gorshenin Institute think tank and political consultancy.
