Top Ukraine prime minister candidates named

David Arakhamia, the likely head of The People’s Servant
parliamentary faction, revealed the short list of candidates for Ukraine’s
prime minister post in an interview with Radio NV broadcast on Aug. 6. They are
Naftogaz Board Chairman Andriy Kobolyev, Naftogaz Executive Director Yuriy
Vitrenko, Presidential Office Deputy Head Oleksiy Honcharuk, and IMF Deputy
Executive Director Vladyslav Rashkovan. Arakhamia echoed President Volodymyr
Zelensky in naming another deputy head, Ruslan Riaboshapka, as a candidate for
prosecutor general, though he stressed there are others.

The same day, the rbc.ru news site published an
interview with billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, in which he named the favorites for
prime minister as Vitrenko and Honcharuk. Kolomoisky’s opinion is widely
regarded because he was the main sponsor of Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential
campaign. His personal lawyer for five years, Andriy Bohdan, serves as head of
the Presidential Office.

Zenon Zawada: Among
Arakhamia’s short-list candidates, Honcharuk has the best chance to become
prime minister, while Rashkovan has the smallest chance. Honcharuk has much
closer ties to the Zelensky team than the other candidates, while Rashkovan’s
candidacy is being heavily criticized by Alexander Dubinsky, a journalist and
elected MP who is very close to Kolomoisky.

Regardless of who is the favorite, each of these four
candidates has a solid reputation and relations with IFIs, as well as
experience in dealing with different government bodies. Kobolyev and Vitrenko
have earned public confidence from their tenure at the state natural gas
monopoly Naftogaz, where they have conducted needed reforms and have made
preparations for an impending natural gas shutdown by Russia this winter.
Rashkovan earned the public’s respect as deputy central bank head during the
turbulence of 2014-2016. Since 2015, Honcharuk had served as head of the Better
Regulation Delivery Office, an EU-sponsored NGO that helps the government
improve the regulatory environment for business.

It’s revealing that Kolomoisky endorsed two of these candidates
in his remarks, indicating that there is communication on important matters
between him and the Zelensky team. Someone with as little experience and
independence as the 35-year-old Honcharuk could be vulnerable to pressure from
Kolomoisky and Andriy Bohdan, the Presidential Office head whom Kolomosky
confirmed as among his closest lawyers in the Aug. 6 interview published by
rbc.ru. “Now he probably doesn’t have time” to meet, Kolomoisky said of Bohdan,
with whom he said he used to meet with three times a week for the last five
years.