The Problem of Propositions. Does Ukraine Need New Parties and Leaders?

May 29, 2017

The society does not seriously trust politicians and parties, says Yuriy Yakymenko.

Opinion polls and presidential ratings of Ukrainian politicians indicate that Ukrainians need new leaders, — Deputy Director General and Director of Political and Legal Programs of the Razumkov Centre Yuriy Yakymenko said in the commentary to “Glavred”.

“According to our new opinion polls, the question of whether new faces, parties and leaders are necessary for Ukraine, the majority of respondents always answers “yes, we need”. On this basis we convinced that the request for the new faces in Ukrainian politics exists. This request is also confirmed by the low level of trust and approval ratings of those people who are seen as presidential candidates — in fact even the largest figures fluctuate within 10%, says political expert.

He stressed that the request exists, but there is a problem with the proposal: “If you look at our recent studies, more than 50% of citizens did not choose any candidates: the voters choose the category “another politician” (10%); “would not participate in the elections” (20%); “Difficult to say” (19%). So, half of the respondents simply do not know who they will vote for, or under current circumstances they don’t see the sense in participating in the elections.

Where could new leaders come from? First of all, they should have been prepared from the same political class, from the political elites, MPs, members of the government who are at the top of our political system, and also perhaps, within non-parliamentary parties whose leaders are well-known and conduct public activities, Yuriy Yakymenko said.

However, despite the request for the new politicians, the society does not seriously trust politics as a sphere of activity, its representatives and political institutions, in particular political parties. This situation of general mistrust prevents the emergence of new leaders, said Director of Political and Legal Programs of the Razumkov Centre.

In addition, in this situation the factor of media plays a significant role. How people will know about new politicians when media mainly talk about the former ones? First of all, the source of political news and information for the majority of citizens are the country’s leading TV channels: the people could consider as candidates for elections those politicians whom they see on the screen. If potential new leaders do not appear on the screens, then it is very difficult for them to keep in touch with people using other channels of communication, the expert said.

In such conditions, taking into account three factors, such as absence of credible alternatives, distrust towards politicians in general and closed channels of informing people about the availability of other proposals, turns out that we continue to vote for those people who are quite well-known in domestic politics, Yuriy Yakymenko summed up.


Source:

Yuriy Yakymenko

President, Editor-in-Chief of "National Security and Defence" Journal


Born in 1967 in Cherkasy

Education:

National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Faculty of Philosophy (1991)

University of Manchester (the UK), Department of Government, post-graduate course in Political Theory, MA (Econ) (1994)

National Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy, post-graduate course in Social Philosophy (1995). The author of about 200 publications

Ph.D. in Political Science (2013). The author of about 40 research papers and more than 200 publications in media

Employment:

1991 – 1995 — Expert in Public Relations of the Ukrainian Union of Afghan War Veterans

1995 – 2002 — Senior Consultant, Chief Consultant, Head of Division, Deputy Head of the Main Department of Domestic Policy of the Administration of the President of Ukraine

Most recent position at State Service — Deputy Head of the Department for Analysis and Prognosis of Home Policy of the Administration of the President of Ukraine. State Servant of the 4th rank

April 2002 – May 2005  — Razumkov Centre Leading Expert, Political and Legal Programmes

May 2005 – November 2011 — Director of Political and Legal Programmes

November 2011 – June 2020 — Deputy Director General, Director of Political and Legal Programmes

June 2020 — ongoing — President of the Razumkov Centre

(044) 201-11-92

yuri@razumkov.org.ua

yuri.yakimenko