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Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes continues to fight for his seat even from the Berlin clinic “Charite”, photo: facebook.com/gennadykerne
In the Kharkov mayor elections, a hint of intrigue appeared.
One day there they nominated current mayor Gennady Kernes’ campaign favorite for this position and presented documents for his registration as candidate Mikhail Dobkin, who previously held the mayor’s seat.
“Strana” says what this means for the course of the elections in Kharkov.
No personal presence
Kernes was nominated for mayor for his party “The Kernes Bloc – Successful Kharkov” at the city party conference on Wednesday 23 September. In addition, the mayor topped the list of candidates for deputies to the City Council of his political force. All this happened in the absence of Kernes himself (the law allows it), who was hospitalized for coronavirus and bilateral pneumonia at the Berlin clinic “Charite”.
But Kharkiv’s first deputy mayor, Igor Terekhov, who, according to documents, is not included in the party leadership but is especially close to Kernes himself, was sitting in the presidium. In a conversation with journalists, Terekhov called the chief “part of the history of the city” and his “brand” and assured that nothing threatened his “life” and that he would return to Kharkov “in the near future”.
The thesis of the normalization of Kernes’s condition is now being repeated by all the more or less public representatives of his inner circle. Again, on Wednesday, businessman and friend of Mayor Pavel Fuks denied another rumor about the worsening of the situation through his Telegram channel. “I am in constant contact with the doctors at the Charite clinic. Gennady Adolfovich’s condition is stable. There is an improvement in the condition of his lungs. I am writing to the authors of the forgery: I know they are inventing nonsense, hoping to improve their result. in the elections in Kharkov, where Kernes is absolute Leader. The main thing, do not forget that the elections will take place one day, justice will prevail and it may happen that Gennady Kernes moque at the funeral of the authors of this lie, “he wrote Fuchs.
It is not clear if things are really that good.
“There is a suspicion that the Kernes entourage creates the illusion of recovery through a wave of information,” says the entourage of Kharkiv region chief Aleksey Kucher, who is running for mayor of Servant of the People.
Meanwhile, Kernes’ team is already actively campaigning.
“The mayor is present on television and the Internet, where, by the way, he is quite good at drawing the young electorate towards himself. For such a campaign, his personal presence is no longer necessary,” comments Anton Avksentiev, a political expert from Kharkov. , to “Strana”.
At first glance, Kernes’s main competitors aren’t idle either.
The coachman is highly publicized on the tables. According to Avksentiev, the volume of outdoor advertising of the head of the region is comparable to that of the mayor.
The People’s Deputy Aleksandr Feldman, nominated by the Opposition Platform party – For Life, to whose parliamentary faction he belongs, has also started.
“Feldman doesn’t have any billboards, but the headquarters promises to pitch tents in large numbers the other day,” says the political scientist.
At the same time, the interlocutor of the publication in the Kharkiv Regional State Administration claims that both Kucher and Fedman do not strongly criticize the mayor.
“Kernes leads by a large margin. To change the ratings, he must be attacked. But the main competitors do not. Apparently, for ethical reasons, he does not want to discredit a person who is now battling a serious illness. And this decides the destiny of the campaign. Kernes goes to that which he will win again in the first round and will win the majority in the city hall, “says a source surrounded by the governor.
Avksentiev, by contrast, believes that Kernes’ virtual campaign and his illness give Kucher, Feldman and “theoretically” Igor Chernyak, nominated by Yulia Svetlichnaya’s “Together” bloc, chances for a second round. The former head of the region, MP Svetlichnaya (non-factional), according to the publication, will top his party’s list in regional or municipal councils.
“Entering the second round will be the main success of the campaign of this troika,” believes the political scientist.
Whether Dobkin can intervene between them, opinions differ. As well as the assessment of the reasons that prompted the former mayor to go to the polls.
Dobkin will talk about Kernes
Vague rumors about his nomination in Kharkov (and not in Kiev, as he said publicly) circulated during the last week after the serious illness of Kernes became known.
Dobkin himself confirmed them by bringing his documents for registration as a mayoral candidate.
“In truth they say: man proposes, God disposes,” Dobkin wrote on his Telegram channel. He did not specify why he changed his decision, promising to do so tomorrow on the air of the Nash television channel.
“I’ll just say one thing: I wish Gennady Kernes a speedy recovery and that he returns to his native Kharkov,” Dobkin said.
He already held this chair from 2006 to 2010, and Kernes at the time was the City Clerk (i.e. formally the second person in town). And when Dobkin became the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration in March 2010, Secretary Kernes became the first to officially accept the functions of mayor by law. In subsequent elections, he was re-elected mayor on two occasions.
For a long time, Dobkin and Kernes were a single team and close collaborators, but now this is a thing of the past.
In November 2019, Kernes, in an interview with Strana, confirmed that her paths with Dobkin had parted ways.
“My interests and Mikhail Dobkin’s interests diverged when he forgot what Kharkiv was. His statements were not good for the city.” we are associated together, and if he is going to make any key statement, for example, first ask me if I want to participate in this, “Kernes said then.
However, according to “Strana”, Dobkin will base his campaign on the fact that he is an ally of the mayor of Kharkov and goes to the elections as “to help him”. Although with Kernes’ team and with himself, he did not agree to this “help”.
“They are in a fight. But publicly Dobkin will say that he went to the polls because of Kernes’ health problems, so in case of a bad result, the position of mayor would not go to his enemies, but to his colleague Dobkin. And moreover, he will most likely declare that if Kernes returns to Kharkov before the elections, he will withdraw his candidacy. If not, he will not withdraw, “says a source close to Dobkin.
Political scientist Avksentyev admits that Mikhail Dobkin’s calculation is that the Kernes team will have to support him in case of a poor development of events with the mayor’s health.
“Neither Terekhov, nor Novak (Secretary of the Kharkiv City Council, Alexander Novak – Ed.) cannot present themselves, because their position is that Kernes is more alive than all living things. However, the last nomination day is September 24 and, in theory, surprises are possible. What type? For example, the self-nomination of Yaroslavsky (the influential Kharkov businessman Alexander Yaroslavsky, who has good relations with Kernes, Ed.) so that Dobkin does not become the main candidate for the chair of Kernes ”, says the expert.
However, an influential interlocutor from Kucher’s environment doubts that Yaroslavsky “needs all this.” “He’s doing well in business now that Kernes is there. He doesn’t want to go out in public view. In any case, I haven’t even heard a clue from him,” says the source.
However, one way or another, but the votes that Dobkin will obviously take from Kernes. Although it is not a fact that can take much away. According to Avksentiev, the former governor’s qualifications are not very good.
At the same time, you certainly have a high conscience in the city, which you can turn into a more or less good result in the elections, if you lead an active campaign.
However, the appearance of another strong participant in the elections exacerbates the electoral problems of Kucher, for whom it will now be even more difficult to finish second than it is now.
“Third place in Kucher’s campaign will mean total declassification,” says a source surrounded by the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
One way or another, but all of this is unlikely to affect the final outcome of the election: Kernes’s victory seems more than likely.
One detail spoils the image: the technician. According to the law, the newly elected mayor must take an oath in the plenary session of the City Council after the announcement of the decision of the electoral commission on his election and registration. This means that Gennady Kernes should be able to do it right now. Then everything is in the hands of German doctors.
