Mayors of biggest cities win local elections easily, exit polls suggest

As expected, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitshcko won his vote
by a large margin, but not without a second-round runoff. He earned about 47.8%
of the votes, compared to 8.6% for Oleksandr Popov, his predecessor and
candidate from the pro-Putin Opposition Platform For Life party, according to
the exit poll of the Rating Sociological Group. In the vote for the Kyiv city
council, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform led by Klitshcko earned
about 21.3% of votes, the European Solidarity party led by Maryna Poroshenko
earned about 18%, and The People’s Servant party led by Yevhenia Kuleba earned
about 9.5%, the Rating exit poll said.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, mayor
Hennadiy Kernes won re-election with 57.9% of the vote, followed by Oleksandr
Feldman with 12.1%, the exit poll said. In Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city,
mayor Gennady Trukhanov won 34.6% of the vote, followed by Mykola Skoryk of the
pro-Putin Opposition Platform with 17.7%. In Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest
city, Borys Filatov earned 44.4% of the vote, followed by Zahid Krasnov of The
People’s Servant party with 14.4%.

Zenon Zawada: The biggest
story of these local elections, which was expected, is the surge in support for
local leaders and parties above national ones. All four mayors re-elected in
Ukraine’s largest cities lead their own local parties that have no presence in
parliament. Moreover, they are not capable in competing for parliament. But
they are very popular at the local level, which is a unique phenomenon in
Ukrainian politics.

As expected, Ukraine has become more polarized, with
Kyiv firmly rejecting pro-Russian forces in its city council results, but the
southeastern cities becoming more Russian-oriented. As expected, the pro-Putin
Opposition Platform For Life party had strong results, likely gaining the second-largest
factions in the city councils of Kharkiv, Odesa and Dnipro, according to the
Rating exit poll.

Part of that story is the collapse in support for The
People’s Servant party, which is largely due to the president’s inability to
resolve the war in Donbas, nor improve living conditions in any meaningful way.
Clearly, a large portion of Zelensky’s disappointed voters went towards the
Opposition Platform, while a chunk of his pro-Western electorate voted for the
European Solidarity.