Sadovyi’s Self-Reliance unites with Gatsko’s Democratic Alliance for elections

The Self-Reliance party, which has the fourth-largest
faction in parliament, has formed a political alliance with the Democratic
Alliance party for the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections, as well
as the 2020 local elections, the Self-Reliance party said in an Oct. 9 press
release. The Self-Reliance party – led by Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv,
Ukraine’s seventh-largest city – has styled itself as a pro-Western reforms
party with a special emphasis on restricting real estate development and
historical preservation. The Democratic Alliance, which has a small presence in
several local councils, has a similar political program.

Zenon Zawada: The
Democratic Alliance is not an influential party. But what’s significant about
this announcement is that it confirms that these two parties have abandoned any
prospects for aligning with Anatoliy Grytsenko and his Civic Position party for
these elections. Gatsko’s Democratic Alliance aligned with Grytsenko’s Civic
Position to compete for the 2014 parliamentary elections, but they fell short
of the 5% barrier. Gatsko’s decision to align with Sadovyi this time around
reveals his lack of confidence in Grytsenko, despite the higher poll rankings
commanded by Grytsenko and his party (at the moment).

At the same time, despite Grytsenko having ranked
as high as second-place throughout the summer in the presidential race, his
numbers have fallen in the September polls and he is unlikely to recover them,
without a political alliance or access to significant resources. Sadovyi has
also announced he will compete for the presidency, which will further chip away
at Grytsenko’s support among Ukrainians desperate for accelerating pro-Western
reforms. As a result of this configuration, Sadovyi and Gatsko will extend
their political careers beyond 2019, while Grytsenko’s political career will
likely conclude.