Ukraine’s Russian-oriented forces should unite for elections, Rabinovich says

Ukraine’s Russian-oriented opposition forces should
unite behind a single candidate in the March 2019 presidential elections and coordinate
their activity in the October 2019 parliamentary vote, Vadim Rabinovich, the
head of the For Life party, wrote on his Facebook page on July 4. Using the
term “opposition forces” without mentioning any Russian orientation, Rabinovich
specifically addressed the heads of the Russian-oriented Opposition Bloc, as
well as the smaller Renaissance and Agrarian parties. “In one of the most
tragic moments for Ukraine, when the country’s fate is on the table, each of us
should forget about our political ambitions and work towards a single victory,”
he wrote.

Of decided voters, Boyko would earn 10.6% of votes and
Rabinovich would earn 8.4% in the March presidential elections, according to the
most recent poll conducted in June by the Kyiv International Institute of
Sociology. For the October 2019 parliamentary vote, the Opposition Bloc would
earn 11.4% support and the For Life party would have 10.5%, according to the
same poll.

Zenon Zawada: If the Russian-oriented parties are going to unite for the elections,
it can only be behind Yuriy Boyko and his Opposition Bloc, which have been
consistently leading the polls this year among the Russian-oriented forces.
Moreover, Boyko and the Opposition Bloc have more resources than Rabinovich and
his For Life populist project. So either Rabinovich is laying the groundwork
for a possible deal to back Boyko (and possibly merge his party into the
Opposition Bloc), or he is hyping himself up as the leading Russian-oriented
candidate, which we don’t view as credible.