Analysis of the political competition of the “Za Majbutne” party

 

The “Za Majbutne” Party headed by Ihor Palytsia is one of the most dynamic and active all-Ukrainian political projects, pouring millions of dollars in cash into local elections. Simply put, “Za Majbutne” just buys everyone – heads of UTCs, mayors, media, experts and political scientists.

According to sources working in the election headquarters of this party, the “Za Majbutne” bought the most advertising banners and billboards throughout Ukraine. The party is the leader in the number of advertising space. As of August 1, the “Za Majbutne” has reserved 5,000 thousand advertising billboards. The second place belongs to the “For Life” (4,000 billboards), the third place – “European Solidarity” and “Servant of the People” (3,000 billboards each).

The election headquarters of the party “Za Majbutne” has very ambitious goals – to form its own faction in each territorial community, district and region, which would control from 10% to 30% of local deputies.

It is clear that the “Za Majbutne” party wants to show great results in the local elections in order to have a good start in the next parliamentary elections (possibly, early elections). Second, Kolomoiskyi and Palytsia want to show Zelenskyi that they are successful without the “Servant of the People” and are important political partners profitable to make friends with, share power and access to state monopolies. After all, the “Za Majbutne” project throws all its resources to get its big piece of the pie in November during another government reshuffle and the resignation of Denys Shmyhal.

The oligarchic project “Za Majbutne” positions itself as a patriotic party of local self-government and big business, which opposes itself to the pro-Russian “For Life” party. As Ihor Kolomoiskyi said in an interview, the “Za Majbutne” party means patriots and professionals, while the “For Life” party means Putin’s agents. According to available information, even the name “Za Majbutne” was coined by Kolomoiskyi personally to create electoral problems for Medvedchuk in the South and East of Ukraine. One of the main components of the “Za Majbutne” election campaign will be the stake on the professionalism of their nominees who know how to solve problems of their voters.

The election headquarters of the “Za Majbutne” party is headed by a very wealthy and well-known businessman in the field of oil and gas production – Yaroslav Moskalenko who reports personally to Ihor Palytsia on all the work. Ihor Palytsia himself personally decides on the party’s strategy and election campaign, without coordinating with Ihor Kolomoiskyi. Many media mistakenly write that Palytsia is completely dependent on Kolomoiskyi. However, this is not true, Palytsia and Kolomoiskyi are equal partners, and Kolomoiskyi is more of a moral authority for Palytsia, rather than a leader.

According to verified information, Yaroslav Moskalenko will lead the “Za Majbutne” to the elections to the Kyiv Regional Council; he will claim to head the Kyiv Regional Council. Interestingly, Kolomoiskyi’s people, in fact, seized all power in the Kyiv region. Local leaders of Oleh Liashko’s “Radical Party” in the Kyiv region also joined the “Za Majbutne” party. In addition, the “Servant of the People” in Kyiv region is led by Oleksandr Dubinskyi who selects staff and forms electoral lists for local councils. The “Batkivshchyna” party also has a strong position in the Kyiv region – it will also focus on Kolomoiskyi’s people. Oleksandr Dubinskyi comes to Kolomoiskyi’s office every night, where Ihor Palytsia, Yaroslav Moskalenko, Taras Batenko, Viktor Bondar and Anton Yatsenko sit. One of the sponsors of the “Za Majbutne” project is an oligarch who recently returned to Ukraine – Kostiantyn Zhevaho.

The central election headquarters of the “Za Majbutne” is located in Kolomoiskyi’s office “Millennium” on Volodymyrska Street. Since the end of July, the security has been doubled there, for which Timur Mindich is responsible. The election campaign of the “Za Majbutne” project in the regions is coordinated by 24 MPs being the members of the “Za Majbutne” parliamentary group. In fact, each region has a resource MP who negotiates with local elites and forms election headquarters. Since August 1, the election headquarters of the “Za Majbutne” have started working all over Ukraine, people have received salaries and party tasks – to form lists of supporters in the communities.

The “Za Majbutne” party is also actively buying local elites and mayors (the amount of remuneration for joining the “Za Majbutne” party is from USD 10,000 to USD 200,000). Thus, the “Za Majbutne” party collects the resource local heads of UTCs and mayors who have very good positions in their communities. Cherkasy mayor Anatolii Bondarenko and Rivne mayor Volodymyr Khomko recently joined the “Za Majbutne” party. The process of joining the project by mayors is actively continuing, because one can buy most of the current heads of UTCs and mayors throughout Ukraine for a few million dollars. In essence, this is political corruption at the party level, but this approach is very effective and brings good results. In addition, it should be kept in mind that people in the regions are very pragmatic and unwilling to work for an idea. Elections in Ukraine have always been a good way to make money, so people in the regions work for those who pay more. In this case, oligarchic projects and well-funded parties have a much better chance of success than their opponents without the oligarchic support.

According to available information, the central headquarters of the “Za Majbutne” party allocates very large financial resources for the formation of a pool of political scientists and experts who will work on this project. Now, Volodymyr Fesenko, Vadym Karasiov, Viktor Nebozhenko, Ihor Popov and about 15 other experts are working in the “Za Majbutne” pool, commenting on political events in the interests of the “Za Majbutne” oligarchic project. Of course, paid political scientists are pushing commissioned materials on social networks and the media. According to available information, well-known “talking heads” of Ukrainian political scientists can earn up to one hundred thousand dollars for the election campaign, as they serve many political clients (some political scientists work at 8-10 election headquarters in different regions). In addition, expert comments of well-known Kyiv political scientists and experts are actively disseminated in the local press and media. In addition, the engaged experts have free access to the TV channels agreed with by Paliytsia and Kolomoiskyi.

The “Za Majbutne” offers good fees to political scientists. In August, the project promises to pay 2 thousand dollars (for giving 10 comments and broadcasts). In September – 2,500 dollars (for 15 comments and broadcasts). In October – 3 thousand dollars (for 20 contacts with the media). In addition, bonuses are promised if the party candidate becomes the mayor.

In political terms, the “Za Majbutne” considers its main competitors to be the “Servant of the People”, the “For Life” Party, the “Propozytsiia” Party, and the “Victory” Party of Palchevskyi.

The “Batkivshchyna” party is a potential ally for the “Za Majbutne”. It is known that Ihor Palytsia and Yuliia Tymoshenko discussed the possibility of joint nomination of mayoral candidates in some regions, especially in Volyn.