A new liberal group Luydi Vazhlyvi (Ukrainian for “People Matter”) held a Ukrainian Liberal Forum on April 13, in Parkovy Exhibition Center in downtown Kyiv.
The event attracted several hundred people, including some prominent politicians and government officials, who talked politics and economic reforms, and pushed for the creation of a new liberal party.
They discussed the second round of the presidential election, set to take place on April 21, and ways to push their ideas forward after the election.
Sergiy Gusovsky, Kyiv City Council lawmaker and leader of the Luydi Vazhlyvi movement, announced he is starting a new liberal party targeting local elections. The party will be registered in May.
But it wasn’t the announcement that drew most attention at the forum.
The part that seemed to interest everyone the most was a panel discussion featuring official representatives of the two presidential candidates, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy who received over 30 percent in the first round, and incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who received slightly less than 16 percent.
Zelenskiy’s campaign strategist Dmytro Razumkov and former deputy head of the presidential administration Rostyslav Pavlenko, who represented Poroshenko, were questioned by economist Pavlo Kukhta on their candidates’ economic and political agenda.
The discussion proved to be one-sided, with the panel also featuring two vehement supporters of Poroshenko: Volodymyr Omelyan, minister of infrastructure, and a TV host and political technologist Taras Berezovets.
Kukhta was focusing mainly on Zelenskiy’s representative Razumkov, as he stated near the end of the discussion that “we all know who will most likely win (the presidency),” citing recent polls in which Zelenskiy had a strong lead.
Razumkov was dodging most questions concerning economic policies, saying he wasn’t “an expert on that.”
Still, he supported liberalizing the economy and reducing bureaucracy but hesitated to respond if Zelenskiy supports lifting the moratorium on farm land sales, causing dissatisfaction among the audience.
Razumkov said the campaign’s team holds “round tables on economic issues.”
“If there are round tables, it means no one will do anything,” Omelyan commented.
When asked about Ukraine’s National Bank, Razumkov said that its work will be audited.
Berezovets asked Razumkov whether Zelenskiy would support the state owned Privatbank’s ongoing lawsuit against its former owner, self-exiled oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Kolomoisky and his partner Gennadiy Bogolyubov are suspected of siphoning some $5.5 billion from their bank before its nationalization in 2016. Kolomoisky denies the accusation, claiming he was robbed of his bank, and saying he wants the bank back, with compensation.
Razumkov dodged the question saying the incumbent president should be commenting on the lawsuit, not Zelenskiy.
Former Economy Minister Pavlo Sheremeta, who joined the discussion mid-way, said that he didn’t hear any concrete answers from the representatives of both candidates.
The what was supposed to become the main event of the forum took place later, when both Razumkov and Pavlenko left the room, with half of the audience following them.
Gusovsky, who is best known as an owner of a restaurant chain and a city council member who was excluded from the Samopomich faction amid a corruption scandal, after which the faction dissolved, took the stage.
Gusovsky talked about ideas behind the Luydi Vazhlyvi movement, citing the need for a national liberal political force that would promote economic liberalization on the national and local levels. As the packed exhibition center was getting empty, Gusovsky announced that the new liberal party Luydi Vazhlyvi will be registered on May 18, and invited everyone to join it.
Receiving a fair share of applause Gusovsky left the stage, ending the Ukrainian Liberal Forum.
