Perhaps never has so much money been spent for so few votes as Natalia Korolevska’s campaign for parliament, which – despite her lavish advertising campaign – flamed out with voters, who only gave her Ukraine- Forward party 1.6 percent of the ballots.
Also in the distinguished loser category is ex-President Viktor Yushchenko, whose humiliating fall from grace continues with voters who once considered him as a hero. Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine got 14 percent in the last parliament election in 2007. This year, he’s likely to get a little bit more than 1 percent, almost the same as Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party.
Korolevska and Yushchenko are among the notable losers in the Oct. 28 vote. Among 21 parties competing, only five made the 5 percent threshold. They are the ruling Party of Regions, United Opposition-Batkivshchyna, the Communist Party, Vitali Klitschko’s Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms and the nationalist Svoboda Party.
Korolevska’s mistakes appear obvious to many people.
Oleksiy Haran, a professor of political science at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, said that the superficiality of Korolevska’s advertising campaign did her more harm than good. Adding football star Andriy Shevchenko and noted actor Ostap Stupka to her party top list appeared not to have helped.
“For those who follows politics and are interested in it at least a little bit, it was absolutely clear that (those celebrities) cannot and is not ready to do politics professionally at the moment. Therefore it was clear that this was done for the sake of a beautiful cover only,” Haran said. Korolevska has never said how much she spent or who contributed all the money, but her advertising blanketed the nation’s airwaves, light boxes and billboards.
Critics said Korolevska was a decoy candidate financed by pro-presidential forces to siphon away votes from those who were disappointed by the Party of Regions. Korolevska has consistently denied such speculation and insisted she’s her own person.
During the 2007 parliament election, Korolevska got elected with the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko. Earlier this year was expelled from the BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction for violating party discipline, ethical principles and cooperation with the presidential administration. After that, she created her own political party. In the polls, Korolevska’s party peaked at 3 percent in the summer.
Yushchenko’s story is quite a different one.
In 2002, Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine was a young and promising political force that won nearly a quarter of the vote. Then he went on to the presidency in 2004, riding the wave of the peaceful Orange Revolution. He quickly turned into a disappointment as president for not keeping his promises or ridding the nation of its culture of corruption and high-level impunity.
Still, in the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary elections, his party was popular enough to win 14 percent of the vote.
He’s been sinking ever since. In his 2010 presidential election bid, he got only 5 percent of the vote – failing to make the runoff between President Viktor Yanukovych and Tymoshenko. In defeat, Yushchenko remained in his state-owned presidential residence in an elite Kyiv suburb, earning him further enmity.
Now he’s sunk even lower and questions are raised about how much further he’s willing to humiliate himself with futile attempts at a political comeback.
Some even consider Our Ukraine’s 2012 bid to be a decoy force designed to siphon votes from the true political opposition, considering that many blame Yushchenko for his unrelenting campaign against Tymoshenko, aiding Yanukovych’s election as president in 2010.
“Yushchenko has discredited himself,” Haran said. “I think it was absolutely clear for all that the role for Our Ukraine was to pick up 1 percent of votes from one of the opposition parties.”
Whatever the case, Ukraine has a history of throwing politicians to the dustbin electorally and never letting them rise return if the people judge that they have betrayed the public trust.
Oleksandr Moroz, the head of the Socialist Party, a leader of the Orange Revolution and a one-time Tymoshenko and Yushchenko ally, failed to lead his party to the parliament in 2007. His denouement came after he signed a coalition agreement with Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
Valeriy Khoroskovskiy and Inna Bohoslovska also flopped with their 2002 Winter Crop team. Natalia Vitrenko’s Progressive Socialist Party went nowhere. And Viktor Medvedchuk’s Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) got dismissed by voters as creatures of oligarchs.
“In general this election confirmed once again that people understand who is who when it comes to [politics],” Haran said. “It was clear long ago that Our Ukraine has no future. Korolevska apparently also understands now that hardly something comes next after that.”
The results also might be a sign that money can’t always buy votes, at least when it comes to party lists.
Yushchenko, the leader of Our Ukraine, could not be reached for comment. The official website of the party wasn’t working this week.
Korolevska does not agree with pessimistic forecasts.
“We lost the battle but not the war,” Korolevska said this week. “Our main goal is to form a new opposition in the society. We will unite all sane forces in the society, which are not represented in politics, but want real changes in the country.”
Korolevska is not quitting. She says she will take part in the upcoming local elections and become a candidate in the 2015 presidential election.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected].
