Vilkul wins mayoral re-election as observers claim fraud

Yuriy Vilkul, the current mayor of Kryviy Rih, won handily early mayoral elections held on March 27 that were forced by the Self-Reliance party, which claimed fraud in the October vote in the city. Vilkul of the Opposition Bloc earned 73% of votes, compared to 11% for his runner up from Self-Reliance, volunteer battalion commander Semen Semenchenko, reported the local news site 0564.ua. Voter turnout was more than 55%. Vilkul has been mayor since 2010 and represents the interests of Rinat Akhmetov, who controls the region’s iron ore mines. Kryviy Rih is Ukraine’s eighth-largest city with a population of 652,000.

The Kryviy Rih vote didn’t meet international standards or even the minimum legal standards, said on March 27 Oleksiy Koshel, the head of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine that is financed by Western donors. “We saw elections by the standards of the Yanukovych regime with large-scale vote-buying, abuse of government resources and other violations,” he told a television network. Voter turnout was inflated by at least 25%, which was enabled by the transport of 70,000-80,000 pensioners who were paid UAH 500 (USD 19), Koshel said. This transport was organized by structures affiliated with the local government and local factories controlled by Akhmetov, he said.

Zenon Zawada:  The Self-Reliance party had months to prepare for this vote and could have at least made it difficult to falsify by taking the necessary precautions, such as a publicity campaign and well-attended protests, which have yet to be seen. Helping Vilkul has been the tacit backing of the Presidential Administration and Cabinet of Ministers, which didn’t raise any concerns regarding local funds being used to pay pensioners in the preceding months. Nor is Kyiv likely to respond tangibly to claims of vote fraud.

If the city’s revote was a victory for the EuroMaidan, then Vilkul’s re-election is a defeat. Kryviy Rih had been a stronghold for Russian-oriented forces and the sense had been that it was beginning to tip westward, following in the footsteps of Dnipropetrovsk. This defeat is a reflection of the public dissatisfaction with the pro-Western Kyiv government led by Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk. Once again, Ukraine’s pro-Western forces have failed to convince southeastern residents that they can improve their lives tangibly.