Yevhen Bruslynovsky, The Day
Victory for youth is how one could describe the results of elections at Talne election district where 53-year-old Deputy Information Minister Mykhailo Onufriychuk got the better of incumbent 62-year-old banker Vadym Hetman (33,700 and 28,700 votes, respectively).
Ivan Poluden, head of the Katerynopil district state administration, told The Day that everything was decided the last week before the elections. A strong support team (some sources mentioned up to 700 persons) came to the district to canvass for Onufriychuk. They worked quickly and professionally, while Hetman's people used traditional techniques, acting mainly through local officeholders, village council heads, heads of collective farms, etc.
In the old Parliament Vadym Hetman personified political and financial power as head of the pro-Presidential "Independent" faction and a zealot for majoritarian electoral districts.
One rumor trying to explain Mr. Hetman's defeat has it that NBU President Yushchenko had a hand in the campaign thereby removing a possible rival in the 1999 presidential race (although Vadym Hetman was often referred to among the Kyiv political elite as Mr. Yushchenko's Godfather). This, however, does not seem to hold much water.
As Chairman of the Ukrainian Interbank Stock Exchange, his fiasco will have a negative effect on the banking system and the entire Ukrainian Establishment, The Day's Vitaly Kniazhansky was told by Oleksandr Suhoniako, President of the Ukrainian Banks Association who had also lost in a majority constituency. "I suggested to Centrist parties that they unite and say they will assume responsibility for the economy, but they didn't listen to me. If they did, they would have the required 226 votes in Parliament. Populist slogans no longer work these days and emotions are probably good only if one wants a revolution," he added.
Photo by Leonid Bakka, The Day:
Vadym Hetman
