Klitschko or the Presidential Office? How we were looking for "tails" in the story of two terms for mayors

If a mayor is not a perpetual motion machine, how do some of them work for 15-20 years? In a comfortable office on the conventional third floor of the city council, with a trusted secretary and a watch on his hand who remembers all the budgets of the year since 2006.

And now, former MP Oleksandr Chernenko has published a document, which allegedly shows that the Presidential Office (PO) has decided to put an end to long-lived mayors. The idea is as follows: two terms in office in your lifetime – and "goodbye, office".

According to Chernenko, first of all, Bankova wants to get rid of one of its biggest and oldest opponents – Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. The list is followed by other old-timers: Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov and others.

The authorities deny this initiative, claiming that it is an elaborate fake by Klitschko's team. Who really started the war against long-serving mayors and whether it really happened? LIGA.net looked for tails in this story: what happened. <#comment> pagebreak paywall

"We will choose you". Who was the first to launch the idea

But the first person to voice this idea was not Chernenko at all. It was Dmytro Chornyi, a deputy from the Servant of the People, who had published a post-survey the day before .

"How do you feel about the fact that some mayors stay in office for 10-15 years or more? We are a democratic state, but sometimes it seems that some mayors turn into lifelong "princes" who have been running cities for years," he wrote.

Filatov came to comment on Chorny. In his usual manner, he spoke out against this initiative: "Command, you cunts who have graduated from Truskavets universities.".

The deputy himself says in a commentary to LIGA.net that he is surprised by the reaction of the mayor of Dnipro.

"In general, there is no such initiative from the authorities. I asked my colleagues in the committee [on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning], and no one had heard anything about it. I only heard information from the conditional opposition at the end of the parliamentary hall. So I decided to ask people how they felt about it. To take the temperature, so to speak," explains Chornyi .

The very next day, Chernenko posted about two terms for mayors.

"I received this document from MPs. From the Servants of the People (SN)," Chernenko said in a commentary to LIGA.net . He refused to say from whom exactly. However, it is worth noting that the former MP occasionally cooperates with Klitschko's team.

Initiative without author

The press service of Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Viktor Mykyta, who is in charge of the regional direction, LIGA.net denied that Bankova was involved in the idea to set clear deadlines for the mayoral elections: "Not on the agenda".

Sources LIGA.net The leadership of the SN also claims that no such bill is being prepared: it is only a "fake by the Kyiv mayor's entourage".

"This could have been invented by Prodan [Oksana Prodan is a former MP and currently an advisor to the head of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, Klitschko], who loves conspiracy theories," the source comments.

According to him, after that, calls from mayors and associations friendly to the SN – the All-Ukrainian Association of UTCs, the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, and the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils – began. Instead, the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) is not loyal to the Servant of the People, he continues .

"It's a good attempt to break us up a bit with these associations. And then try to unite them around us. There has long been a split within the AUC over the fact that it has turned into an association of five million-plus cities. Plus, not everyone likes the fact that Klitschko uses the AUC as a springboard for his party," says the SN deputy.

Prodan, in a conversation with LIGA.net , refutes this information. She also denies any involvement in the creation of the document on mayors. She learned about this from social networks.

"I can say that the AUC works with everyone who is interested in the development and sometimes protection of local self-government in Ukraine. It is one of the few organizations that is apolitical. All councils and their representatives are from different parties. The Association of Ukrainian Cities works with all deputies, councils, and the government," adds Klitschko's advisor .

Another source in the mayor's inner circle claims that Klitschko's people have nothing to do with this initiative. He is not sure whether Bankova Street really plans to implement it. But they may need it in connection with the preparations for the elections .

"They realize that all the current SN MPs have no place in the next parliament. There is some mythical list of 70 people who are actually elected from the conditional Zelenskyy Bloc. Therefore, some MPs will be offered seats in local sovereignty bodies. But this is a bad idea, because the locals are not happy with the central government anyway," says LIGA.net a source close to the Kyiv mayor.

The mayor now has other problems, he adds: constant information attacks on him and his team by the authorities. Klitschko decided to act sharply and fire those who are caught up in corruption scandals. But the source of LIGA.net admits that this does not have a very positive effect on the mood within the UDAR party. There are fears that the mayor may abandon many of his people. And this is not the best start for the upcoming local elections.

The conflict comes from the Parliament

The SN insists that the story of the mythical bill is beneficial to Klitschko.

"We are currently in a dispute with them over the draft laws on local self-government," the source says.

These are projects under the Ukraine Facility 2024-2027. Both (numbered 13124 and 13150) are registered as "servants". But the first one was written together with the AUC and submitted by MP Pavlo Frolov. The second one was authored by the leaders of the faction David Arakhamia , Olena Shuliak, Andriy Motovylovets and Vice Speaker Oleksandr Kornienko .

The Association suggests focusing on the structure of local government, the role of local state administrations, cooperation with local governments, and coordination between different branches of executive power. Meanwhile, the SN is focused on controlling the decisions of local councils, executive committees, and mayors so that they do not go beyond their powers.

"I think it was Klitschko's team that came up with the story of the mayors to shift the focus from talking about oversight to talking about how we want to ban those mayors altogether," says a source LIGA.net in SN.

Prodan says that they do have questions about draft law 13150. "The Board of the Association of Ukrainian Cities has decided that if two proposed ideas are excluded from the draft 13150, this project can be adopted and it will work," she says .

The first thing that the AUC proposes to eliminate is the widespread control and supervision of local governments' own powers. This contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine and European standards, Prodan is convinced: "The second is a register of all decisions of local government bodies and officials. We have not found a single country where this idea has been implemented. This is an unfulfilled task that will entail only the expenditure of budget funds.".

The SN predicts that Klitschko will derail their project with the help of Petro Poroshenko's faction Eurosolidarity and the deputy group of former Speaker Dmytro Razumkov .

What's next

Currently, there is no registered document banning mayors from running for office more than twice in their lifetime. MP Chornyi told LIGA.net that he initially thought of preparing his own draft. But then he "realized that in times of war, this is not a priority issue.".

In addition, it will make everyone think that local elections are possible in the near future.

All interviewed parties assured LIGA.net that no one is preparing for the election process. And there is no reason to expect local elections this year. However, the SN says that Klitschko has started the election process. And the mayor of Kyiv says the same about the Opposition Platform.

So, while no one is officially preparing for the elections, unofficially, everyone has been in the game for a long time.