Ukraine’s ruling political party has chosen who will run for Kyiv mayor under its banner during the local elections in October, the President’s Office announced late on July 16.
Servant of the People, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political party, which holds the majority of seats in parliament, has nominated its member Iryna Vereshchuk, 40, to run for mayor.
The party members considered five candidates: Oleksandr Dubinsky, Mykola Tyshchenko, Dmytro Hurin, Oleksandr Kachura and Vereshchuk.
There were three criteria to choose the winner: the party vote that took place after each candidate delivered a 5-minute speech, pre-campaign public opinion polling and Zelensky’s opinion.
The party members cast 87 votes for Vereshchuk. The runner-up was Dubinsky, who got 41 votes. The sociology polling showed Vereshchuk would be the best candidate. Given that she demonstrated the best results under the first two criteria, Zelensky didn’t have to exert his power as de facto leader of the Servant of the People party.
“This is the first time I didn’t have to make any decisions, thank God,” Zelensky said at a presser on July 16. “But I supported the decision of the party.”
President Zelensky couldn’t resist describing the party’s candidate’s appearance. She is “the most beautiful candidate,” he said. She is “prettier than Dubinsky. It’s not sexism. I am telling the truth,” he added.
Zelensky also said that all the candidates were “strong” and that now those who lost the primaries will be helping Vereshchuk to win. “We’ve got to win,” he said.
Nevertheless, each candidate who lost in the primaries can still run for Kyiv mayor independently. In fact, both Dubinsky and Tyshchenko have so far been actively preparing for the elections, placing banners across Kyiv and promo videos online, and they haven’t publicly expressed their feelings about Vereshchuk winning the primaries.
David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction, was sure that Vereshchuk is much smarter than incumbent Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko, who will seek his third term in office. The ratings, however, still show that Klitschko is the most popular candidate with Kyivans.
According to a survey by the Razumkov Center pollster, Klitschko tops the ranking of potential mayoral candidates. He has already gained the support of nearly half of the future voters, outpacing his current main rival Andriy Palchevsky, founder of private clinic Eurolab, by over 30%. Ukraine’s chief sanitary doctor Viktor Liashko ranks third in the poll with 6.3% electoral support.
Vereshchuk has already served as a mayor. In 2010–2015, she governed Rava-Ruska, a city in Lviv Oblast, some 500 kilometers west of Kyiv.
During the July 16 presser about her nomination, Vereshchuk was short spoken. The only thing that she said was, “We will win.” Then she said, “Thank you all.” Finally, she challenged Klitschko to a debate.
