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Economists analyze Ukrainian electoral platforms

Economists analyze Ukrainian electoral platforms

October 24, 2014

October 23, 2014 at Ukraine Crisis Media Center economists of public reform program VoxUkraine – Ilona Sologub, KSE Research Associate and Dmytro Boyarchuk, Executive Director of CASE Ukraine, stated, that Ukrainian and international economists have analyzed the electoral platforms of the Ukrainian political parties seeking representation in the next parliament. This public initiative seeks to examine the advisability of each party’s electoral platform when it comes to enacting economic reforms in the country. The group ranks each party’s platform and programs on their economic adequacy.

“You can say that we have had some disappointment because of the platforms and pledges of political forces,” stated Boyarchuk. Many of the claims and promises of various Ukrainian political parties are impractical, and are designed to curry votes rather than actually reform Ukraine’s economy. VoxUkraine examined each major political party running for parliamentary seats on October 26, ranking each party on a scale of 0-10 in different categories.

Economists emphasized, that most of the major political factions in Ukraine are not specifically focused on important economic reforms. “Everybody pays attention to anti-corruption efforts and lustration,” Boyarchuk said.  “This way, no one talks about housing programs and less pressing matters.” The security situation in the east and some other topics receive all the attention, while economic issues are often mentioned without any specifics. Those party platforms that do go into specifics tend to promise benefits for Ukrainians without bothering to mention their economic feasibility. For example, “everyone is promising to give loans to young families or improve utility bills, but there aren’t any details on this,” stated Sologub. In the meantime, “leading parties have ignored energy efficiency and the environment,” she added.

Boyarchuk and Sologub stated that Ukrainian political parties rely on people’s ignorance about economic matters. “Stupidity is assumed among voters,” said Boyarchuk. In this way, the parties make many promises without going into details on how to achieve them. VoxUkraine analyzes the parties’ electoral platforms in order to encourage transparency and provide economic information to voters who might not otherwise understand the party platforms.