Three political forces in Kharkive oblast will be especially active during this year's snap Presidential election. Each of them will propose its own candidate for President of Ukraine to the electorate. These parties are: AUU Batkivshchyna, the Party of Regions, and the UDAR.
Representatives of the pro-power party AUU Batkivshchyna are trying to get the best positions in the election race. With this in mind, the strict administrative vertical is being built in the party. The administrative influence of this political party started increasing since Ihor Baluta from was appointed as the Head of Kharkov OSA instead of Mykhailo Dobkin from the Party of Regions. According to the official site of Kharkiv OSA, the Acting Deputy Heads of Kharkiv OSA are Vasyl Khoma, Ihor Rainin and Yurii Heorhiivskyi. Only Vasyl Khoma was the Deputy Head when Mykhailo Dobkin was the Head, and the other two are representatives of AUU Batkivshchyna.
After the personnel rotations, oblast state administration faced management changes in raions. 11 of 27 Heads of Raion State Administrations were fired during the last month – everyone are representatives and active members of the Party of Regions. 7 new Heads of RSA are already appointed. In Barvinkivsk raion, the Head of RSA became Mark Bekker, Velykoburlutskyi - Viktor Slysh, Iziumskyi - Liubov Shamrai, Borivskyi - Vitalii Kiian, Zmiivskyi - Stepan Myndar, Lozivskyi - Serhii Krasnoperov. First three of them have already headed raion state administrations when Arsen Avakov was the Head of OSA. Serhii Krasnoperov is the Head of raion party organization of the AUU Batkivshchyna.
New faces have also appeared in the leadership of law-enforcement agencies and in the public prosecutor's office. Vasyl Synchuk became the public prosecutor in Kharkiv oblast. He was holding the very same position from 2004 to 2010. Mykhailo Kubrytskyi was appointed as the SBU Head in Kharkiv oblast, who was working as the First Deputy Head and Chairman of the STA Tax Police Department in Kharkiv oblast in 2009 – 2010. Member of AUU Batkivshchyna Anatolii Dmytriiev is now the Chairman of the Department of the MIA of Ukraine in Kharkiv oblast. Oblast department of the State Traffic Inspectorate (STI) is Chaired by Ihor Shvydkyi, who was holding this position from 2005 to 2011.
In contrast to its opponents, the Party of Regions is losing its administrative resources. Besides discharged heads of state administrations, the Party of Regions loses its members. 7 members of oblast council have left the Party of Regions and became unaffiliated. In Iziumsk raion council, the whole faction of the Party of Regions dissolved itself.
Three ex-representatives of the Party of Regions in Kharkiv local self-government bodies have returned their party cards – Head of Bluzniukivsk RSA, and two Heads of Raion Councils - in Bluzniukivsk and Iziumivsk.
Nevertheless, Kharkiv oblast still remains the ancestral land of Mykhailo Dobkin, nominated by the Party of Regions. He's shill known as ex-mayor of ex-head of OSA. The Seventh Channel with its news production "Kharkovskiie izvestiia" (Kharkiv News) remains the voice of his election campaigning. The ATN (News TV Agency), which is in opposition to the Seventh, was removed from the air in 2011. Today, this resource is aired only late at night, when the Seventh Channel finishes its program.
Nevertheless, the fact that Hennadii Kernes is the Mayor of Kharkiv is a plus for Dobkin's election campaign. Kernes managed his election campaign in 2006 mayoral election, and gave him the victory. On 1 February 2014, the politicians have established the Ukrainian Front all-Ukrainian Public Union. The organization is goaled for stabilization of south-eastern regions of Ukraine in connection with Euromaidan activities.
However, Hennadii Kernes has officially refused to manage the election campaign of M. Dobkin yet in the end of February.
The question is, how the support Mykhailo Dobkin by party representatives in Donetsk will influence the electorate in Kharkiv.
Another important player during presidential election campaign in the region is the UDAR party, which have staked on Petro Poroshenko with quite a high ratings in this region.
During 2012 Parliamentary elections, the UDAR party has received almost 13% of votes in single-member district in Kharkiv oblast. Its competitor, the AUU Batkivshchyna has received almost 15%, and the Party of Regions – 41%.
Presidential candidate Andrii Hrynenko, a businessman from Kharkiv, remains an intrigue. He wasn't politically active before, and all that we know about him is that he's self-nominated candidate and is not affiliated in any party. In his election program, he emphasizes the necessity to fill the state budget, reform the credit and financial sphere, create conditions for the development of business, science, and manufacturing, to overcome corruption.
Thus, Kharkiv city and oblast will become the scene of intensive competition for the presidency. The UDAR party has joined this year with Petro Poroshenko to the old known opponents in Kharkiv oblast – Yuliia Tymoshenko from AUU Batkivshchyna (not Kharkiv citizen), and Mykhailo Dobkin from the Party of Regions (Kharkiv citizen).
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.