People’s Servant party to have 253 seats in new parliament

With 94.2% votes counted, Servant of People party close
to president Volodymyr Zelensky is gaining 253 parliamentary seats, which is
far beyond the needed majority of 226. This breaks down to  43.1% voter
support giving 124 MPs from its party list, and its 129 candidates on
single-mandate districts are very likely to join the parliament. The results of
other parties are much weaker: pro-Russian Opposition Platform for Life (13.1%
votes) would gain 45 seats, Poroshenko’s European Solidarity (8.1%) and
Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party (8.2%) gain 24 seats each, and Holos of rock star
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk gains 20 seats. The remaining 58 seats will be occupied by
self-nominated candidates or members of other parties elected on single-mandate
districts.

Among the top businessmen trying to qualify for the parliament,
majority owner of Ferrexpo (FXPO LN) Kostyantyn Zhevago, owner of Motor Sich
(MSICH UK) Vyacheslav Boguslayev, and Boris Kolesnikov, a partner of Rinat
Akhmetov, have lost their mandates. At the same time, other allies of Akhmetov,
namely Vadim Novinsky (co-owner of Metinvest, METINV) and Musa Magomedov (CEO
of Metinvest’s Avdiyivka Coke Plant) have gained their parliamentary seats.

James Hydzik:  The losses among businessmen are among the largest surprises in
this electoral cycle. They also point to the tectonic shift in Ukrainian
politics over the last decade, when the loss of a seat by a top businessman
would have been inconceivable. While there is still plenty of room for
improvement, the fact that, like ex-president Poroshenko, there are those
holding the reins of power who are agreeing to follow the voters’ will, is
noteworthy.