The local election campaign has begun and the regional elites started investing in headquarters, advertising and PR campaigns. The local elites used the situation with the quarantine and poor coordination of events in the top-down system for self-promotion before the elections due on October 25, 2020, political technologist Kyrylo Molchanov, who is also an expert at the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said.
In the second program “Expert Kitchen” on the Expert Club YouTube channel, Molchanov made assessment of the incumbent mayors’ chances to be re-elected for a new tenure at the upcoming elections.
The expert said that Hennadiy Kernes in Kharkiv, Vitali Klitschko in Kyiv and Hennadiy Trukhanov in Odesa have the highest chances to stay on their posts. He also noted that one should expect the most interesting election campaigns in Dnipro and Lviv, where Andriy Sadovy has lost his positions in recent years.
Speaking about prospects of parties, the expert said that some political forces continue dominating in certain regions where they used to be popular. The main struggle will take place between the Opposition Platform – For Life and the Servant of the People in southeastern Ukraine, between the Servant of the People and Batkivschyna in central regions, and the so-called pro-European and nationalist forces in western Ukraine.
According to Molchanov, the ruling party in general will fail to repeat the success of its previous campaigns as its popularity continues declining. Therefore, the Servant of the People will have to form coalitions with other parties in regions, which may result into unexpected political consequences both in Ukraine’s regions and, hence, in the central government.
Find more details about the 2020 local election campaign in the video on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, LOCAL ELECTIONS, MOLCHANOV
Kormotech LLC (Lviv region), a large Ukrainian manufacturer of cat and dog food, has launched first shipments of its products to Spain and Italy. The company said in its press release on Friday that by the end of the year it plans to export 1.5 tonnes of premium and super premium pet food to each of these countries.
“The first shipment to Italy was made on Wednesday, June 3. Dry and wet super premium food for cats and dogs under the brand Optimeal will be sold in the online shop Healthy Pet Italy. The company will sell its products in Spain under two Ukrainians brands: Optimeal and Club 4 Paws,” Kormotech said.
Kormotech LLC is the leading Ukrainian producer of feed for cats and dogs. The company exports products to 31 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Iran and Chile.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups, will channel $170 million in the implementation of alternative energy projects.
The agricultural group said on its Facebook page on Friday that a green energy turbine with a capacity of 7.5 MW operates to its full capacity at the oil crushing plant in Kropyvnytsky.
“Six more Kernel’s plants operate in the same format until 2021 and generating a total of 90 MW. In particular, Starokostianstyniv oil crushing plant, which is being constructed in Khmelnytsky region, will become the largest modern oil crushing plant in Ukraine,” Kernel said.
According to the group, Starokostianstyniv oil crushing plant will have a turbine with a capacity of up to 20 MW.
Some 46.1% of Ukrainians believe that the country should strive to join the European Union, 13.1% in the Eurasian Economic Union, while 28.3% do not want Ukraine to join any economic alliances.
Those are the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from April 26 to April 30 and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Survey results show 41.9% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should strive to be a NATO member, 34.7% – a neutral state and 12% – a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
If offered U.S. or EU citizenship, 27.1% said they would leave the country to live there, while 65.1% would remain in Ukraine. Only 6.3% said they would leave for Russia. Some 86.3% said they would refuse to relocate to Russia. Offered a “bonus” of $100,000, 11.2% of respondents said they would move there.
The KIIS survey was conducted from April 26 to April 30, 2020 using the CATI method (computer-assisted telephone interviews) based on a random selection of mobile phone numbers. Some 1,500 interviews were included in the survey.
The sample is representative of the adult population of Ukraine (aged 18 years and older). It does not include Russia-occupied areas in Donbas and Crimea. The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and without taking into account the design effect) does not exceed 2.6% for indicators close to 50%, 2.2% for indicators close to 25%, 1.7% for indicators close to 10% and 1.1% – for indicators close to 5%.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 05/06/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
