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Kasko and Nayem’s parties: from allies to fierce competitors
About the political force led by Mikhail Saakashvili was discussed back in the 2015-year.
Against the backdrop of declining trust in Petro Poroshenko and the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the former Georgian president's rating continually rose. With the appearance of Volodymyr Groysman and the postponement of parliamentary elections, the situation stabilized: Saakashvili distanced himself from direct criticism of the government.
Under the umbrella of the Anti-Corruption Forum, which was to become a platform for Saakashvili’s autonomous political start in Ukraine, two liberal projects with the duo Leshchenko-Nayem and Kasko-Sakvarelidze ripened.
The first focus on fighting for personal political rights, the second position themselves as state reformers. In general, both represent one right-libertarian position.
As noted in the Kasko-Sakvarelidze camp, personal ambitions of Serhiy Leshchenko and Mustafa Nayem stand in the way of uniting; it is hard to imagine them as functionaries of an anti-regime party. The authority of the above-mentioned politicians is too high to dissolve into the altruistic idea of a liberal party.
In a comment to the publication “Obozrevatel,” Nayem tried to explain:
“We have different approaches to the structure and funding system. These differences are in approaches, not in goals. As for ambitions, that’s normal. They also have their ambitions. But when it comes to funding, we are ready to disclose and show all the information. If it’s about the management structure, we are ready to disclose and show all information. And our colleagues, apparently, are talking about ambitions not to talk about specific problems.”
Today the so-called Facebook parties cover no more than 10% of Ukrainian voters. It is doubtful that several political forces will immediately overcome the five-percent barrier. In particular, this is an alarming signal for “Self Help,” on whose electoral field it has become quite cramped.
Nayem and Leshchenko limited themselves to the idea of creating a new party on the basis of the already existing DemAlli ance.
In turn, Kasko gave an official start to the party on 28-th of June.
In the photo of the team with whom the former deputy Prosecutor General plans to lead Ukraine to the “club of rapid countries,” one can recognize Viktor Chumak (independent), former editor-in-chief of Forbes-Ukraine Volodymyr Fedorin and Nataliya Novak (BPP).
In an interview with Ukrainian Pravda, Viktor Chumak confirmed the creation of a new political force:
“Yes, we are going separately, because they (Leshchenko-Nayem) decided to create a party on the basis of the DemAllians, we are creating a party from scratch,” the deputy noted.
The inability of the “anti-corruptionists” to present a united force will be a serious test for Mikhail Saakashvili’s political future. The latter is appearing less and less in the frames of central media and is taking a waiting stance. Yet, it can already be stated that the former Georgian president has bet on his close associate – David Sakvarelidze.
Chumak also confirmed this information:
“One can say that he (Saakashvili) is involved in this party, since there are representatives of his team with us, but he is a government official.”
Relations between the two political groups have noticeably deteriorated even now—long before the start of the election campaign. If the so-called anti-corruptionists fail to come to terms, the appearance of two parties with the same ideological content will split voters’ voices. Leshchenko-Nayem and Kasko-Sakvarelidze, from potential allies, can turn into fierce enemies.
Bogdan Khodakovsky for INFORMATOR
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Партії Каська та Найєма: від союзників до запеклих конкурентів". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
