Elections in Rivne oblast: party in power won without fighting

On April 21, midterm elections to Rivne Oblast Council were held in single-member districts. Elections were called because 4 deputies became MPs, and one had passed away. According to the voting results, the opposition has lost this battle. However, the Party of Regions and its partners have already had a stable majority for decision-making in the current political situation.

On April 10, during the Rise, Ukraine! rally in Rivne, MPs Oleh Osukhovskyi, Viktor Vozniuk, Valentyn Koroliuk, Vitalii Chuhunnikov, and Mykola Kucheruk reminded fellow countrymen that seats, which are to be competed for, belonged to the opposition and, therefore, should be taken by opposition representatives in the future. Leaders of the united opposition Arsenii Yatseniuk, Oleh Tiahnybok, and Vitalii Klychko have stated that the biggest part of citizens in Rivne oblast support the opposition, what will be proved by the result of the midterm elections. However, the prediction of politicians, to put it mildly, didn't come true. Preliminary election results showed that ruling candidates received the majority in 4 of 5 districts. Moreover, the ruling party has broken anticipations of the opposition with 10-15% turnout. All the others have ignored the voting day and "voted with their legs".

Detachment did not notice the loss of a soldier

On April 21, at 12am, territorial election commissions were receiving turnout reports of polling stations. It was as low as everyone expected. In district #5 (Hoshcha raion) – 11.5% of the total number of voters District #8 (Demydivka raion) – 16.47%. Kostopil raion (district #20) – 4.85% of voters. Kuznetsovsk city (district #36) – 4% of voters. In oblast center – 3.1%/

– It's obvious, – representative of the opposition candidate cheered up his colleagues. – Normal people go to the church in the morning, and only then to the polling station.

However, it was easy to see at 4pm that the turnout percentage has nothing to do with religious views of citizens. At 10pm, when polling stations were closed, voter turnout in Rivne was 11%. In Kuznetsovsk – 15.3%. In Kostopil raion – 16.35%. The best results were at polling stations in Hoshcha (37.6%) and Demydivka (59.8%) raions, where opposition candidates were competing with the Head of Employment Centre and Head of Raion State Administration.

Thus, less than 17% of 156 thousand voters came to polling stations. In average, almost 26 thousand citizens voted in 5 districts. Therefore, candidates, which received some thousands of votes, have won the elections.

The victory of minority

In district #20 (Kostopil raion), a candidate, supported by 2,014 voters, has won. Vasyl Osadchuk, nominated by the Party of Regions, was enough to receive 8% of votes to win. His opponent Andrii Lendel, nominated by the opposition, has received 1,592 votes. More than 21 thousand voters didn't come to polling stations.

In Hoshcha raion (district #5), a candidate nominated by pro-power People's Party Ivan Tkachuk has won. 2,603 voters supported him. It is 18% of the total number of voters in the district. 1,905 voters supported the opposition candidate Roman Denysiuk. More than 9 thousand citizens ignored their right to choose.

In Demydivka Raion, a candidate nominated by the People's Party, Head of Raion State Administration Volodymyr Vinnichuk, will become deputy. 1,583 voters supported him. It is 27% of the total number of voters. His opponent Anatolii Sydoruk, nominated by the opposition, has received 1,335 votes. Almost 2 and a half of voters didn't vote.

In Kuznetsovsk, the candidate from the Party of Regions, chief executive of Rivne Nuclear Power Plant Pavlo Pavlyshyn has received the victory. 1,353 voters supported him. It is 8.8% of the total number of people which have the right to vote. It is worth to be mentioned that executives of the power plant traditionally win in district #36. Departed deputy of Oblast Council Mykhailo Kolisnychenko was also nominated by the Party of Regions and held executive position at the enterprise. In fact, it's not surprising, as long as the majority of citizens work on power plant.

A candidate from the opposition Mykola Zakharchuk received 777 votes in support. More than 13 thousand voters didn't vote.

Only in Rivne (district #40) a candidate from the opposition, member of the Svoboda Oleksandr Buchynskyi, has won. 6% of voters supported him. However, with 11% turnout it turned out to be enough. 5,818 voters supported the candidate from the opposition. More than 84 thousand voters didn't come to polling stations.

The closest opponent of the Svoboda member, Petro Korzhevskyi, has received 1,384 votes in support.

Causal relations

The discussion of why the opposition was defeated on midterm elections to Rivne Oblast Council can be long enough. Although in Demydivka raion, where the margin is no more than 250 votes, some have reported falsifications, OPORA observers haven't noticed any serious violations during the voting day. However, despite any reasoning, the fact is that ruling forces have won in the region where opposition is traditionally supported. The party in power has conquered rebel districts without harsh violations and falsification during the Election Day, and with the minimal number of votes.

Roman Martyn, for the Livyi Bereh