On ambitions and interests

I wonder how United Opposition leaders will feel in parliament side by side with the politicians whom they refused to put on their lists but who eventually became MPs. Will it be easy to make deals? The Fatherland leadership never gave a clear answer to the question why the committed people were not put on the lists or in some cases were even denied support in the first-past-the-post constituencies. Oles Donii is one of those who managed to break through to the next Verkhovna Rada by way of self-nomination. In his words, he had to fight against both the authorities and the opposition. We are speaking to the newly-elected MP Oles DONII about the battles and intrigues in the 88th constituency (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast), the problems of the opposition, the formation of a parliamentary majority, and the quality of the next Verkhovna Rada.

“I’VE BEEN IN POLITICS FOR 25 YEARS BUT HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH DIRT AND LIES”

Mr. Donii, you said more than once during the election campaign that dirty tricks were used in your constituency. But, as a result, you won with a handsome margin. Owing to what?

“There is a journalist named Vakhtang Kipiani. When he came to my constituency, he said he had never seen so much dirt throughout the entire history of samizdat newspapers (he keeps the largest collection of samizdat). A newspaper or a leaflet came out against me almost every day. For example, fake letters from Yushchenko alleged that I was doing time in Lviv oblast for embezzlement, those from Shukhevych claimed that I am a traitor, and those from Parubii said that I have a dacha in Pushcha-Vodytsia. I’ve been in politics for 25 years but have never seen such dirt and lies. I was surprised to see that in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Kyiv billboards and light boxes were not torn off or painted over, as it was done in our constituency. The pictures of Shukhevych, Symchych, and Lukianenko, who backed me, were ripped off without a twinge of conscience. The rivals paid 50 kopecks for each of my ripped leaflets.

“In the last days, they printed their tall stories not only in anonymous newspapers but even in such publications as Pokuttia. Unfortunately, people from the patriotic milieu also handed out these papers. For example, we caught a Fatherland district council member who was doing so. In a word, a conglomerate of different parties was prepared to sell itself out and play up to the authorities for money.

“But I am glad that people saw through this. I have a small team – members of the Last Barricade art association. They don’t know what an election is, but they do know what work is. We worked with the radio and television, and punished weeklies. Our opponents could not bear the pace that we set. They are just unable to work like this.”

Election results showed that your main rival was a Fatherland representative who finished second best.

“No, my chief rival until the last day was Mr. Hdychynsky who represented the government. In the last week, when he saw that he could not outrun me, he chose a different strategy – to rob me of votes at the expense of caretaker candidates. Things went so far that he began to publicly campaign for Fatherland representative Levytsky. But this did not help either, for they outplayed their own selves and were shocked to see the caretaker candidate Levytsky and Hdychynsky finishing second and third, respectively.”

What is in common between what you call the pro-governmental Hdychynsky and the Fatherland candidate Levytsky?

“As Ukrainska Pravda has already noted, the money of Kolomoisky worked for Hdychynsky. In other words, he was in fact a candidate from the government and Kolomoisky, but the opposition was also playing up to him due to some personal ties between him and Yatseniuk. Besides, the head of Fatherland’s Ivano-Frankivsk branch would visit our constituency for one and a half month to campaign against me.”

Were the votes rigged when they were counted?

“We believe we were robbed of 4 percent, for even the exit poll conducted by the pro-governmental survey company Research & Branding Group gave me 4 percent more. But the margin between us was so narrow that our opponents just lost heart at the end of the vote count.”

“THERE ARE FEWER AND FEWER COMMITTED PEOPLE LEFT”

Why did you not run from Kyiv, where you had been nominated before?

“Elections are far more expensive in Kyiv. A billboard alone is ten times as costly. We would have just run out of funds. And, as is known, my campaign was primarily based on the contributions of low-income people. When I tweeted during an online debate that I am unable to run for parliament on my own, the 5th Channel journalist Pavlo Kuzheiev initiated fundraising in the Web. We always showed in our blog the account onto which money could be remitted. Oddly enough, more money was coming from Kyiv, Poltava, and even some from Sevastopol, than from the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast constituency. In other words, we turned a district election into a nationwide one.”

How much did this campaign cost you?

“We have not yet counted. But we should not forget that many people gave us a leg up free of charge, which cannot be assessed in monetary terms. For example, Levko Lukianenko phoned in and said: ‘I want you to win.’ He even came to Ivano-Frankivsk to have a TV program recorded. Among those who also phoned were Dmytro Pavlychko, who had been coming to the constituency more than once to campaign for me, and Ivan Malkovych who generally shuns politics but also came to record the program. Vakhtang Kipiani came to launch a presentation. There were also some other figures who helped, including Roman Ivanychuk, Yaroslav Kendzior, Volodymyr Viazivsky… There were also artists, including Maria Burmaka, Oleksandr Polozhynsky, and the TNMK band. The TNMK guys were offered big money to campaign for other candidates, but they refused to do so.”

Why did you choose a constituency in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast?

“I pondered over various options: I toured Lviv and Ternopil oblasts, and there were also proposals from Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv oblasts. Then Prosvita suggested that I opt for an Ivano-Frankivsk constituency. I came there and saw that the constituency was sold out, i.e., it was specially selected for a government candidate who had been ‘sowing’ money there for two years and was furnished with a rival who was supposed to lose. Later, when I was told that Yurii Shukhevych was going to be a candidate from place, I immediately refused because I was prepared to compete against money, the authorities, oligarchs, and bogus oppositionists, but not against a [former] political prisoner. Then I told Mr. Shukhevych that I was standing down in his favor and would be supporting him. But Shukhevych himself called me back half an hour later and said he was ready to stand down in my favor and support me. I considered no other districts after this. It was a sign of sorts for me – the passing of a relay baton.”

You were not put on the lists, nor were you supported at the constituency. Was it a matter of principle for them?

“There are fewer and fewer committed people left. Attempts are being made to knock them out.”

“WHO WILL ASSUME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE UNITED OPPOSITION’S LISTS?”

What kind of relationship do you maintain with Fatherland today?

“As a matter of fact, many Fatherland people helped me during this election campaign. A week before the elections, Viacheslav Kyrylenko and Yurii Lutsenko announced that they were supporting me. The People’s Self-Defense, also part of the United Opposition, made a statement in my favor. Several MPs, who are on the United Opposition’s list (Yurii Hrymchak, Andrii Pavlovsky, Ostap Semerak, Mykhailo Volynets, Oleksandr Bryhinets), attached their signatures to the address of political prisoners, litterateurs, and musicians to Fatherland and UDAR about the necessity of withdrawing their candidates in my favor. I know that pressure was applied to these people, but they stood their ground. In other words, I maintain a normal relationship with Fatherland fighters, and it stands out a mile who is trying to do shenanigans behind Yulia Tymoshenko’s back. There is Kateryna Lukianova on the Fatherland list – a defector who threw eggs at Lytvyn when the Kharkiv Agreements were being approved but, a few days later, affixed her signature to the coalition agreement of the Part of Regions, the Communists, and the Lytvyn Bloc. Half an hour before the United Opposition’s congress, Yurii Hrymchak staged a demarche. He said that if Lukianova were on the list, he would slam the door. As a result, she was withdrawn… I am always asking: who will assume personal responsibility for putting Lukianova on the list – Yatseniuk, Turchynov, or Martynenko? But they all keep silent. She couldn’t possibly have found herself there by mere chance.”

UDAR has heeded the calls of intellectuals and withdrawn their candidate in your favor in the constituency. In what way will you cooperate with this political party in the newly-elected parliament? Will you join their faction?

“I am grateful to Vitalii Klitschko. Well before the elections, he took part in some of our actions in defense of the Ukrainian language, including the TV clips ‘I Want to Know Ukrainian’ made by Last Barricade. Incidentally, he is the only politician who called me back and asked if he could take part in the ‘language rally.’ I have never hidden that I am prepared for cooperation. On the contrary, I stated this in no uncertain terms during the election campaign.

“As for joining the UDAR faction, I want them to prove that their position is based on principles and ideas. The people who are now MPs must show that they will keep their promises to vote with their own card for Ukrainian interests. At the moment, in spite of personal contradictions, I favor a superstructure that would merge Fatherland, UDAR, Freedom, and the committed first-past-the-post MPs. There should be a superstructure that will promote coordinated actions.”

Is this possible after this election campaign, when oppositionists from various parties slung so much mud at one another?

“It may be even necessary because people should restrain their ambitions. Can there be any personal ambitions, when there are national interests? We must overthrow this regime and bring a more democratic, pro-Ukrainian, force to power. But this union should be preceded by self-purification.”

What is your overall appraisal of the opposition’s election result?

“We can see that society is in an oppositional mood. The proportional system clearly showed, in spite of much-spread rigging, that the vast majority of Ukrainian society favors patriotic parties. But, as far as first-past-the-post districts are concerned, very much was done to play up to the authorities and moneybags, when clearly weak candidates were nominated. Who can explain why many ‘Regionnaires’ and their sympathizers won in the first-past-the-post constituencies of Kyiv oblast, where the majority have always voted for national democrats? Obviously, UDAR should have made more concessions and Fatherland should not have nominated weak candidates.”

Does this mean that we will again see defectors in the new parliament?

“We should learn to be democratic. Somebody must assume personal responsibility for such things as unashamed stealing of votes and scandalous defeats. Why does nobody want to analyze the situation? Why does an ‘Orange oblast’ candidate lose to a well-known defector?”

Do you think Tymoshenko controls the United Opposition today?

“Tymoshenko does not have an impact on Fatherland because she personally offered me a top place on the list. Now that she is behind bars nobody recalls or even knows this. Therefore, she exercises an absolutely minimal control over the party.”

Experts note that the current Fatherland owes its result to none other than she.

“Undoubtedly. We saw that about ten days before the elections Fatherland understood that Yatseniuk was unable to deliver the goods due to minimal ratings, so television buffed up its advertising campaign by means of Yulia Tymoshenko. This helped increase the percentage.”

The formation of a parliamentary majority is revolving around 43 self-nominees. How many of them do you think will refuse to join a Party of Regions-based majority?

“The Party of Regions is bound to form a majority. There are no doubts here. Can you recall the year 2002, when Our Ukraine won by proportional-representation lists, but some of its members defected and a pro-Kuchma majority was formed in parliament? It is also a fact that the government will have to appease the interests of some other groups. In other words, there will be more pressure groups.”

Incidentally, what do you think of the result of Freedom?

“Undoubtedly, it is one of the greatest surprises. But it is obvious that some nationally oriented votes of Our Ukraine are now the property of Freedom.”

To what extent do you think the new parliament will qualitatively differ from the previous one?

“I do not think that parliament will improve right now. I think we should pay more attention to parliamentarian politics. In other words, some should learn and some should refresh in memory how to turn to the streets. This Verkhovna Rada can only outline guidelines for society. Three parliamentarian parties are not enough to bring down this regime: we must rally civic movements, intellectuals, and society together. And this can only be done outside parliament.”