First elections after the war. Which politicians are getting ready?

People of Pritula and Klitschko have already appeared in the matter of resuscitating “dead” parties

At the end of April 2024, almost simultaneously, changes in the leadership of two little-known parties appeared in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations. Orest Kristafovich took the helm of the All-Ukrainian Association “Ukrainian Team”, and the “Platform of Justice” party was headed by Maxim Kostetsky.

Kristafovich is a volunteer, previously worked as an assistant to the Udar people’s deputy Artur Palatny and unsuccessfully ran for Udar’s seat in the Kiev Regional Council in the fall of 2020.

Kostetsky is a voluntary assistant to the people’s deputy from “Voice” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn and a legal adviser, head of the transport department of the Sergei Pritula charitable foundation.

In a commentary to the “Commander-in-Chief,” people’s deputy of the 8th convocation and co-author of the electoral code, Alexander Chernenko, calls such processes preparation for elections that will take place after the end of martial law. The fact that a representative of the Pritula Foundation appeared in a little-known party may indicate the political ambitions of a famous volunteer. Indeed, in opinion polls that appeared during the great war, the virtual “Prytula Party” has the support of people.

As for the registration changes in the All-Ukrainian Association “Ukrainian Team” party, then, according to the ex-people’s deputy, an unknown political force is being promoted through a charitable foundation of the same name. It is headed by a close associate of the mayor of the capital, people's deputy of the VII-VIII convocations Artur Palatny. On the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Team Volunteer Headquarters, video reports with the participation of Palatny, who transfers drones and various equipment to the military, are regularly published.

“It is well known that there are leading parties, and there are satellite parties. So, in the future, the “Ukrainian Team” can play the role of a political force that will appoint trusted people to election commissions and election observers. This is not a competitor to Vitaliy Klitschko’s “Udar”, but a project affiliated with him,” explains Alexander Chernenko about the technologies of the Ukrainian political kitchen.

“Commander in Chief” tried to contact the newly appointed leader of the Justice Platform party, Maxim Kostetsky. However, the contact number listed in the register did not respond. In addition, the editors called the previous leader of this political force, Ksenia Pyatigina. From her words it follows that she handed over all party affairs back in November 2023. She allegedly does not know who the new party chairman is.

Subsequently, Mr. Kostetsky nevertheless responded to the editor’s request in the messenger: “Yes, there is a party, it does not carry out any activities, they have completed the registration activities, which began even before the full-scale invasion, that’s the whole sensation.”

Military pause. Not for all

In Ukraine, the market for political parties has always been active: there are now more than 360 registered political forces. However, with the outbreak of a full-scale war, the authorities paused the process of the emergence of new political projects. “From March 6, 2022, documents for state registration of the creation of political parties by the subject of state registration are not accepted,” First Deputy Minister of Justice Yevgeny Gorovets recalls this in response to a request from the Glavkom.

So, “buy and sell” activity is smoldering, so to speak, around those parties that were formed before the invasion. “In pre-war times, registering a new political party was quite difficult and financially expensive. It is necessary to collect 10 thousand signatures of citizens from different regions of Ukraine. Therefore, it is natural that many politicians are now buying so-called “dead” parties for the future. What is noteworthy: often such parties were registered with the purpose of their further sale,” admits the chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (KVU) Alexey Koshel in a conversation with Glavkom.

The editors asked experts what price in war conditions it might cost to buy a batch for those who see a future in such an investment. According to Alexander Chernenko, prices start from $10 thousand. The cost is influenced by the actual history of the political force and the number of its cells in the regions. “On the eve of elections, party certificates are more expensive, but since it is now unknown when the elections will take place, now this is an illiquid asset. Therefore, a potential buyer has a good chance to bargain with the seller,” the former people’s deputy is confident.

Even before the big war, the Committee of Voters conducted a study that showed: in Ukraine, 70-80% of political forces do not carry out any activities, do not have official websites, in a word, these are parties “on paper”. By the way, recent data from the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption only confirms this. As it turned out, for the first quarter of 2024, 188 parties did not file financial reports. “All this does not speak of malice, but of the fact that the parties listed by NAPC exist in safes - like packages of documents: charter, certificate and seal. There is not even an accountant there who would prepare reports as required by law,” noted Alexey Koshel.

At the same time, the chairman of the Voters Committee observes signs of political looting when parties change their names to words consonant with the activities of the military and volunteers or to definitions that appeared during the Russian invasion. For example, the little-known party “Civil Movement “Khvilya” in August 2023 changed its name to the “Party of Veterans and Volunteers of Ukraine”.

“Since the political force is generally unknown, I can assume that neither veterans nor volunteers are involved in it. The Union party, which we previously considered pro-Russian, is now called the European Union. The “Civic Platform” party has been renamed the “We are from Ukraine!” party. The political force “Conscious Nation” has a different brand - “Resolute,” the expert noted.

The face of the next Rada: new or renewed?

Despite the fact that there is no end in sight to the war, the process of disguising old parties as new ones with a military-volunteer theme will continue in Ukraine, predicts Alexey Koshel. The goal of the drivers of this process is during elections to “bite off” a piece of glory and a small number of percentages from voters who will get confused in the names of political forces. The fact is that the future composition of the Verkhovna Rada of the 10th convocation, the expert suggests, will consist of no less than 50% of people who went through the war or volunteered.

The head of the CIU adds: out of the four existing parliamentary parties (OPZZH was split into two groups in April-May 2022. The party itself is banned in Ukraine on the basis of court decisions - “Glavkom”), no more than two will enter the new Rada. The expert is also convinced that the Servant of the People party as such will no longer exist.

“Today, Servant of the People has become a burden for President Vladimir Zelensky. In particular, during the five-year term, at least a third of the “servant” people’s deputies were involved in media and corruption scandals. This is a lot to maintain a high trust rating in the future. It is quite logical that a new party like “Team Zelensky” may appear on the political horizon, which will be formed from new people who were not in the “Servant of the People,” concluded the chairman of the Voters Committee.