Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Nov. 2, after official results were proclaimed during a press briefing conducted by the head of the Kharkiv Election Commission.
Acting Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov won the city’s snap mayoral elections on Oct. 31. Terekhov received 50.6% of the vote, according to Olena Matvyenko, head of the Kharkiv Election Commission.
The turnout was 28%.
Ex-Kharkiv Mayor Mikhail Dobkin came second with 28.4% of the vote.
On Nov. 1, election monitoring non-profit, OPORA, published the results of its parallel count. According to OPORA, Terekhov received 50.06% of the vote, while Dobkin was supported by 28.21% of voters. The non-profit gives a 1.1% margin of error.
“Most likely, Terekhov will receive somewhere between 49% and 51%,” Mykola Zinchenko, head of OPORA’s monitoring team in Kharkiv, told Interfax-Ukraine on Nov. 1.
Since Terekhov received over 50%, a run-off will not be needed.
Before the official results were published, Dubkin came just short of conceding, saying that he’ll continue take an active part in local politics after the election.
“Whatever the final count will be, you should know that myself and my supporters won’t leave. We will control all the promises they gave (on the campaign trail) and all their decisions,” Dobkin said on Nov. 1.
The snap mayoral elections in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with a population of 1.4 million, were called after Hennadiy Kernes, the city’s strongman, died in office on Dec. 17 from health problems caused by COVID-19.
Kernes was among the most powerful people in town. After his death, journalists found vast riches registered on his family and friends.
In 2010, Kernes was elected mayor. He was re-elected twice, always getting more than 50% of the vote and winning the elections in the first round. Kernes has been known for refurbishing and opening new parks and recreational zones, which helped him draw support from the local residents.
However, outside Kharkiv, Kernes was better known for corruption scandals and his initial support of Russian-backed militants.
Kernes had been on trial — for three years — on charges of kidnapping, torturing and threatening to murder EuroMaidan Revolution activists. But the court, in an unprecedented decision, closed the case in 2020 without any kind of verdict or conclusion.
Kernes was transported to Berlin’s Charite hospital on Sept. 17, 2020, and died three months later.
Terekhov, a close ally of Kernes, took charge of the city during Kernes’ treatment in Berlin and didn’t let go of the city after Kernes’ death.
Terekhov, Kernes and his main rival Dobkin are considered to be pro-Russian. In February 2014, Kernes and Dobkin led a rally in support of Kremlin-backed militants, while Terekhov is an active critic of Ukraine’s decommunization law and has been petitioning for Kharkiv to return Soviet-era toponyms.
