Nepotism alive and well in Ukrainian politics

Family members of top Ukrainain government officials running for parliament in this fall’s election include Oleksiy Azarov, the son of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, and Volodymyr Bogoslovskiy, the boyfriend of MP Inna Bogoslovska, according to media reports last week. The younger Azarov is contesting a single-mandate district in Eastern Ukraine, while Bogoslovskiy is on the Party of Region’s list of candidates. A Kyiv Post article last week noted substantial administrative support behind Azarov’s bid, including a makeover of his district’s railway station, a resolution to a longstanding water supply problem and the delivery of new trolleybuses.

Brad Wells: Current Ukrainian government officials have a strong preference for personal connections among their inner circle – it is quite common already for new appointments to share a family, friend or hometown connection to an existing official. These are but two of the latest examples – some other high profile ones are that President Viktor Yanukovych’s son Viktor is an MP, presidential advisor Hanna Herman’s son was briefly deputy emergencies minister, and former President Viktor Yushchenko’s brother Petro is an MP. In addition, the use of administrative and campaign resources for local improvements is also hardly new, but demonstrates another problem in Ukrainian politics today as actually amounts to little more than a vote-buying system. Many Ukrainians view the campaign period as their only chance every election cycle to finally secure much-needed improvements for their districts and are very willing to repay candidates that remedy their issues with their vote.