Ukraine's 2007 Parlamentary Election Campaign – Populism Triumphant (Again)

Orest Zakydalsky

KYIV – Arriving in Kyiv, one is struck by the sheer amount of campaign billboards (the so-called big bordy) that line the highway coming into the city from the airport, and that can be found up and down every major street in the capital. Billboards of the three biggest political forces – the only ones guaranteed entry into the new parliament – the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), the Party of Regions and the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence Bloc (OUPSD) - are by far the most numerous. Smaller parties’ campaign posters – the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Volodymyr Lytvyn Bloc can also be seen throughout the city. Moreover, political advertisements on television are omnipresent –about one in four ads on TV are for (or against) a political party. The leaders of all the major parties are engaged in mega-tours of regions in which their support is strongest, shoring up support for their parties.  Indeed, Western-style campaigning has certainly come to Ukraine.

When one looks at the substance of the advertisements or at the platforms of the major political parties, it becomes obvious that populism, and not concrete political, economic and social programs, dominate the election campaign. BYuT, OUPSD and the Party of Regions have engaged in a game of one-upmanship over the issue of payouts to expectant mothers in order to stimulate the birthrate. The Party of Regions has returned to their tried-and-true vilification of NATO and support for Russian as a second state language in order to solidify their base – they have promised to hold referenda on both issues soon after the elections.  BYuT and OUPSD have also promised referenda – BYuT on the constitution and the division of powers in Ukraine, and OUPSD on the cancellation of deputy immunity. The fact that there is currently no law on referenda in Ukraine, that none of the recent governments has been able to pass one, and thus no legitimate way of actually carrying out a referendum, does not seem to bother any of these parties.

The economic platforms of all three of the major parties are nothing if not populist – almost all economists agree that the costs of carrying out the programs being promised are much higher than the numbers given in the parties’ platforms. In perhaps the most extreme case of populist politics, BYuT leader Yulia Tymoshenko has promised to abolish the draft and establish a professional contracted army by January 2008 – less than 4 months from now! How this will be done and who precisely will want to serve in such an army seems of little importance.

Populism in Ukraine is undoubtedly rooted in the regionalism that plagues Ukrainian politics – the Orange-Blue divide, almost three years since the Orange Revolution, shows no sign of abating. As a result, parties must pander to their bases with programs of social spending and continue to divide the country along historical, cultural and linguistic lines in order to ensure electoral support. What is perhaps most unsettling is that there seems to be no logical reason for parties to be behaving this way and thus failing to provide the Ukrainian voter with concrete economic, legal and political reform programs that the country so urgently needs.

 Orest Zakydalsky is a Canadian who completed his graduate studies at the University of Toronto and now works in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.