The recent political activity of the parties looks like a parade of party congresses. Yesterday Vitalii Klitschko’s party UDAR was the last one among the parties that stand the chance to make it to parliament. The atmosphere of UDAR assembly was totally different from what journalists and society had witnessed not long before, during the congresses of the Party of Regions and United Opposition. The first one made everyone watch their assembly on TV, even the journalists present, and impressed everyone with a symbiosis of a Soviet approach, wealth, and theatrics. Few if any spoke about the openness of regionnaires, because the traditions of this political force are common knowledge.
The second force, though demonstrating absolute openness (the congress took place in the open air in the yard of the central office of Fatherland), showed a surprising approached to making lists. This was proved by yesterday’s statement made by People’s Deputy Olha Herasymiuk. She said that Arsenii Yatseniuk personally crossed out her name from the list of the United Opposition: “My friends called me on The Day before the congress and said that Arsenii Yatseniuk personally vetoed my candidacy without explaining the reasons. But I am not concerned about this very much.” Herasymiuk will take part in the elections from the UDAR party in electoral district 139 in Odesa oblast.
Ms. Herasymiuk, why UDAR?
“I have dedicated myself to Ukraine’s European integration. I like Vitalii Klitschko’s party because it is also concerned with this issue. Klitschko is a European politician. Besides, I like that this is the only party which does not gain promotion at the expense of others: they do not say UDAR is a good party because the rest are bad. This is a disgrace. The party does not allow this, on the contrary, it declares the need to speak about what the party will do, not what other parties have failed to do. They are speaking about a new kind of policy for the state and new approaches. This is really encouraging, for after what I have gone through in the Verkhovna Rada during the past years, I have understood that only a new force is able to change something. Of course, it will be hard, when even our friends from the opposition are attacking us. I really hope that the political will Vitalii is showing is the spirit of the whole party. The party is offering openness, European style, and new quality of policy. Besides, this party is standing on firm positions of defending human rights. Today Klitschko has received congratulations from the European People’s Party.”
