Below are the results of a monthly poll of fifty experts conducted in the first week of May. The experts were asked to assess the influence of 90 Ukrainian political and economical situation in April basing on a 10-point system. Here is the rating table of the first 30 most influential politics of April.
1. Leonid Kuchma .........7.87
2. Viktor Medvedchuk .....6.56
3. Viktor Yushchenko .....6.10
4. Petro Symonenko .......5.13
5. Mykola Azarov .........4.88
6. Ivan Pliushch .........4.87
7. Serhiy Tyhypko ........4.84
8. Yevhen Marchuk ........4.76
9. Volodymyr Lytvyn ......4.75
10. Yuliya Tymoshenko ......4.74
11. Hryhory Surkis .........4.70
12. Volodymyr Radchenko ....4.67
13. Viktor Pinchuk .........4.50
14. Oleksandr Omelchenko ...4.47
15. Oleksandr Volkov .......4.45
16. Yuri Yekhanurov ........4.44
17. Vitaly Boiko ...........4.32
18. Oleksandr Moroz ........4.17
19. Volodymyr Horbulin .....4.02
20. Oleksandr Kuzmuk .......3.97
21. Stepan Havrysh .........3.80
22. Oleksandr Turchynov ....3.76
23. Viktor Pynzenyk ........3.69
24. Ihor Mitiukov ..........3.67
25. Volodymyr Stelmakh .....3.67
26. Anatoly Zlenko .........3.66
27. Oleksandr Zinchenko ....3.65
28. Viktor Skomorokha ......3.62
29. Oleh Dubyna ............3.58
30. Mykhailo Potebenko .....3.53
A ccording to the April results, Viktor Medvedchuk took second place after Leonid Kuchma in his level of influence, driving Viktor Yushchenko to the third position, which seems to us to be quite logical, as the fall of the government in the eyes of many looked to a certain extent a result of the stand of personalities, Medvedchuk versus Yushchenko. As a consequence, the winner occupies a higher line in April’s rating of political influence.
For the first time in a long period, Petro Symonenko takes fourth place. The reason for such a sharp rise of influence of the leader of the largest parliamentary factions, the Communists, is the same: in April he became one of the winners in the major political conflict of the month. Yuliya Tymoshenko, who had for a long time stayed in fourth place, in spite of her stormy activity in referendum organization, dropped to tenth.
High rates for Mykola Azarov (fifth), Serhiy Tyhypko (seventh), and a sharp growth of the almost forgotten Volodymyr Horbulin (from 51st place in March to nineteenth in April) are doubtlessly connected with the fact that all of them are among possible candidates for the prime minister.
In addition, this month we asked the experts to estimate the level of influence of some foreign politicians and diplomats on the political situation in Ukraine. Of course, we can compare the influence ratings of foreign and Ukrainian persons only relatively. However, the results are interesting and, in our opinion, deserve some attention.
According to the experts’ estimations, it appeared that Carlos Pascual, the US ambassador to Ukraine has a rating of 5.39 (thus, relatively he occupies the fourth place in the level of political influence on the situation in Ukraine). Hanne Severinsen, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, got 4.31 points (conditionally — the line near the head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine), Javier Solana, EU Council Secretary General — 3.97 points (equal to the rating of the Ukrainian defense minister), and Russian Ambassador Ivan Aboimov — 3.50 points. Hanne Severinsen conditionally is in the second ten of the list, and Javier Solana together with Ivan Aboimov are in the third. It is interesting if Mr. Pascual keeps the laurels of the “first in political influence” among diplomats after Viktor Chernomyrdin’s appointment is confirmed and he arrives in Kyiv.
