Kharkiv mayor wins re-election, other major cities to hold runoff - Oct. 25, 2020

After Ukrainians voted in local elections on Oct. 25, the mayors of Ukraine’s five largest cities – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Lviv – all lead in the exit polls conducted by the Ukraine 24 TV channel.

Kharkiv Mayor Hennady Kernes is expected to win the election in the first round, while four other big city mayors will likely face the runner-up in a runoff scheduled for Nov. 15. However, official results from the elections will likely not be available for several days.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party lost all major mayoral races and came no higher than third place.

According to the Central Election Commission, voter turnout was around 37%, which is 10 percentage points lower than at the 2015 local elections.

Kharkiv

Kernes received 57% of the vote, according to the Ukraine 24 exit poll. His closest competitor, Oleksandr Feldman, received only 12 percent of the vote. Feldman ran with Opposition Platform – For Life, a pro-Russian party that holds 44 seats in parliament. Kernes represented his own party, the Kernes Bloc.

Kernes has been Kharkiv’s undisputed strongman since 2006. Despite many corruption scandals surrounding the mayor, he was regarded as facing little competition.

In the city council, Kernes also enjoys a comfortable lead, with his Kernes Bloc party receiving a projected 39.5%.

In the city council race, the Opposition Platform – For Life party came second with 17% of the vote, while the Servant of the People party came third with 12.3%.

The 5% threshold will also not pose an obstacle to ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party, which is expected to receive over 9%. The party of pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Shariy is projected to receive over 6%, while the party of former Kharkiv Oblast Governor Yulia Svetlychna is on the verge of passing the threshold with slightly over 5%.

In mid-September, Kernes was transported for medical treatment to Germany and wasn’t seen in public ever since. Ukrainian media reported that he had contracted COVID-19. On Oct. 2, Kernes’ friend, businessman Pavlo Fuks reported that Kernes received a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, implying that he recovered. However, as of Oct. 23, Kernes reportedly remains in Germany.

Kernes has been in bad health condition since he survived an assassination attempt in April 2014. He has used a wheelchair since then.

Kyiv

According to exit polling, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko fell short of claiming victory in the first round, receiving only 46% of the vote. To win in the first round, a candidate must receive over 50%.

However, it isn’t clear who will stand against Klitschko in the runoff. There are four other potential contenders for second place, but the exit poll results are too close to call.

The candidates are: Oleksandr Popov (9.6%), ex-head of the Kyiv City Administration, who is running as a representative of the Opposition Platform; Iryna Vereshchuk (8.5%), Oleksiy Kucherenko (7.8%), a candidate with Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party that holds 24 seats in parliament; and Serhiy Prytula (7.2%), a popular TV personality representing Voice, a liberal opposition party with 19 seats in parliament.

Odesa

In Odesa, controversial Mayor Gennady Trukhanov is expected to receive 34% of the vote. Mykola Skoryk from the Opposition Platform – For Life will compete with Trukhanov in the runoff. He received 18% of the vote.

Local anti-corruption activists accuse Trukhanov and his alleged business partners, Alexander Angert and Vladimir Galanternik, of turning Odesa into their private fiefdom, awarding the most lucrative land and municipal contracts to their own companies.

Trukhanov, Angert and Galanternik could not be reached for comment.

As a result of the local election, many pro-Russian parties will gain entry to the Odesa city council. Ukraine 24 exit-polls show Trukhanov’s Trust in Deeds party receiving 23.7%, the Opposition Platform – For Life party taking 22.3% and the Shariy party getting 7.6%.

Zelensky’s Servant of the People party and Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party are also expected to make it into the city council with 16% and 12%, respectively.

Dnipro

In Dnipro, Mayor Borys Filatov is projected to receive 44% and hold a comfortable lead over his main competitor, local businessman Zahid Krasnov, who got 14% of the vote.

In the city council race, Filatov’s Proposition, a party uniting several Ukrainian mayors, will receive 28% of the vote. The Opposition Platform – For Life is projected to take second with 17%. Servant of the People will likely receive 15%.

Three more parties are expected to make it into the city council: Krasnov’s Hromadska Syla with 10%, European Solidarity with 7.5% and the party of pro-Russian ex-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul with slightly over 5%.

Lviv

The only major city where the eventual victor is still too close to call is Lviv, where Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and former Lviv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniutka, running on the ticket of European Solidarity, will face off in the runoff.

In the first round, Sadovyi is expected to receive 41%, while Syniutka will take 27% of the vote. That raises an important question: Who will be endorsed by Ruslan Koshulynsky, who ran in the first round with the nationalist Svoboda party and is projected to receive 10% of the vote.

Koshulynsky’s support can be crucial in the runoff.

In the city council, European Solidarity will overtake Sadovyi’s Samopomich party with 30% to 24% of the vote, respectively.

The Voice party will receive 10%, while Svoboda is projected to get 7.5%. The local Varta party polls at 5%.

Lviv is the only regional capital where the governing Servant of the People party won’t make it into the city council. The Ukraine 24 exit poll gives it 4.74%.