One of the nice remainders from former Soviet Union is the annual "Professional Day".
In the communist days there was a special day for each profession - the accountants, the policemen, the secret service, the railway worker, and so forth. On this day, all people belonging to this group of professionals were celebrated. That meant of course - they did not work, instead they received some presents from all those who want to make sure that the good relations are being preserved for another year.
November 16 is the day of the people working in telecommunications.
Nowadays this does not mean for all peope working at Ericsson, that we don't work. But some of our partners in Ukraine - the more administraive the more they remember - never forget to send cards with their appreciation and some of them also bring presents and use this day as a good reason to care about fostering the good relations.
So on November 16 Peter received a bunch of nice cards from various organizations, had interesting meetings with these business partners and felt that this is definitely one of the nice things when working here in Ukraine.
The unsolved question: Where is the calendar in which you can read about all those days?
20091126
20091122
Time for Vitamines !!
Peter got the possibility to buy fruits from the local wholesaler. So before the whole family came back from Vienna, the first order was made and delivered home by Peter.
It's meant to be buying for something else than normal households - buying by the crate.
This time we got Avocados and Ananas, and they really came in great quality, much better than in the super market! After 3 days enjoying the idea to have almost endless supply of these fruits at home now, we have been successful in eating at least 3 Ananas & 3 Avocados.
Now we will visit www. Chefkoch.de much more often to make sure we don't only eat Curry and Guacamole every day ...
20091104
Swine Flu - the Austrian Perspective
Stuck in Vienna, the 3 girls try to make the best of it.
We have done the vaccination against the normal flue (influenza) and will do the one against swine flue next week, as soon as it is available. The vaccine against H1N1 is not available in Ukraine, so we prepare ourselves before our return.
Our landlord confirmed yesterday, that we can prolongue our stay.
Peter managed to rebook our flights for later in November.
Now we are only waiting for the OK from the French School in Vienna that the kids may attend school here as long as our school is closed.
Yesterday, as we were listening to the news on the radio, the first 2 headlines had an Austria-Ukraine context: the first one was about the upcoming gas-crisis (Putin warned the EU yesterday, that Ukraine was not fullfilling its obligations) and the second one was about mouth covers (leftover respiratory masks from last winter are donated to Ukraine by Austria).
The girls are in Baden with Oma for 2 days and meanwhile Sylvie is working on her new project (yupeeh!).
Snow fall began yesterday, so we had to go shopping for snow boots because of our unexpected extension of stay. A friend also helped us out with kids' clothes - that we hadn't brough in sufficient quantity.
Feeling like fugitives, but in a very priviliged situation. Improvisation rules!
We have done the vaccination against the normal flue (influenza) and will do the one against swine flue next week, as soon as it is available. The vaccine against H1N1 is not available in Ukraine, so we prepare ourselves before our return.
Our landlord confirmed yesterday, that we can prolongue our stay.
Peter managed to rebook our flights for later in November.
Now we are only waiting for the OK from the French School in Vienna that the kids may attend school here as long as our school is closed.
Yesterday, as we were listening to the news on the radio, the first 2 headlines had an Austria-Ukraine context: the first one was about the upcoming gas-crisis (Putin warned the EU yesterday, that Ukraine was not fullfilling its obligations) and the second one was about mouth covers (leftover respiratory masks from last winter are donated to Ukraine by Austria).
The girls are in Baden with Oma for 2 days and meanwhile Sylvie is working on her new project (yupeeh!).
Snow fall began yesterday, so we had to go shopping for snow boots because of our unexpected extension of stay. A friend also helped us out with kids' clothes - that we hadn't brough in sufficient quantity.
Feeling like fugitives, but in a very priviliged situation. Improvisation rules!
20091101
The Swine Flu - Ukrainian Reactions & Thoughts
Since earlier this week, there were several cases of deaths in the Western parts of Ukraine - Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil. About 20 of the deaths have been attributed to the so-called swine flu. For more details, see below.
The government and the President have acted with all force and decisiveness, as they all want to save the country in their possibly last days of power.
Schools, Universities and other places, where people get education are closed for the next 3 weeks. Why so long? Bad mouths say that's because 2 or 3 weeks holiday in Egypt are so much cheaper than 1 week and then a prolongation.
All other places, where you maybe meet many people, but your brain is not used as much continue to work normally - metro, busses, offices, ...
Cinemas, concerts and football matches (despite the fact that the latter normally doesn't cause high brain activity) will not happen, for some time.
The prime minister declared that the ongoing campaign for the presidential elections (by the way - did you forget that this is the over-arching theme here at the moment?) shall take a break. Some people say, that was declared on Friday because the president had planned a big event on Sunday, but that's of course not confirmed. Others say that's because politicians want to accompany their kids to Egypt.
What does it mean for us?
1) Sylvie and the kids will stay in Vienna until the dust is settled, the virus is frozen, the worst is over and school starts again
2) Life has changed for the one that's stuck in the chaos:
a) When Peter went to the big Halloween-party organized by the US-Marines, the most popular costumes were doctors, nurses and swine-flu-virus-carriers.
Small detail: the house of the Marines is a cool place. Behind the bar they have the flag of the US-marine corps side-by-side with a huge Lenin-sculpture. Spooky. Who of those who know the cold war would have thought that would become possible in our life time?
b) the safest place outside th apartment seems to be the golf course, as there are VERY few people there. Luckily the weather was good this week-end, so the afternoons were spent there. Spooky - where to go when they close next week-end?
c) When Peter goes to the supermarket, it's crowded and there are few people with masks (Peter hopes to get one next week). Spooky again, better to avoid these many people, so shopping will now happen only late in the evening or in the early morning.
d) Can Peter go to the upcoming match of the champions league on Wednesday ???? Will Dynamo Kyiv play in a spookily-empty stadium?
e) The office is still working normally - will there be any cases of flu? Then we have to close down the office and make it also a spooky place - empty for weeks of quaranteen.
For all those who don't understand what's going on - we recommend to read: "Die letzte Liebe des Praesidenten" (The last love of the president) by Andrey Kurkov. You will find some useful hints to what's going on.
If you need some objective information about the situation, please read the information from the German Embassy as of yesterday:
Informationsüberblick
29.10.2009, 16.00 Uhr, Auf der Homepage des ukr. Gesundheitsministeriums wurden folgende Zahlen (Stand: 29.10.2009) veröffentlicht:
In den drei westukrainischen Oblasten Ivano-Frankiwsk, Lemberg und Ternopil sind insgesamt 37923 Personen an Grippe erkrankt, davon sind 951 im Krankenhaus und 30 verstorben. Weiterhin hat das ukrainische Gesundheitsministerium auf seiner Homepage am 30.10.2009 folgende Angaben des Gesundheitsministers veröffentlicht: Das Institut für Epidimiologie und Infektionserkrankungen hat 22 Proben von Erkrankten untersucht. 11 Untersuchungsergebnisse ergaben Grippe Typ A und davon sieben A/H1N1-California. Die Experten des Viruslabors des Gesundheitsminsteriums haben 8 andere Proben untersucht. Vier davon ergaben Grippe A/H1N1-California (Eine Probe davon war von einem Verstorbenen). Anmerkung: "A/H1N1- wird auch als "Schweinegrippe" bezeichnet.
31.10.2009, Auf der Homepage des ukr. Gesundheitsministeriums wurden folgende Zahlen (Stand: 31.10.2009, 09.00 Uhr) veröffentlicht:
An Grippe erkrankt in der gesamten Ukraine:
164.000 Personen (davon 48.700 in Lemberg, 29.600 in Ternopil, 17.600 in Ivano-Frankiwsk, aber auch im Osten der Ukraine Donezk 15.000 und Charkow 10.200)
Davon im Krankenhaus: 5239
Davon verstorben: 39 (alle aus den westlichen Oblasten der Ukraine, so zB. 14 Verstorbene in Lemberg, 13 in Ternopil und 6 in Ivano-Frankiwsk)
Einschätzung der Krankheitsschwere
Auszug aus der Homepage des Robert Koch Instituts: "Nach Einschätzung der WHO vom 16.10.2009 verursacht die Neue Influenza nach wie vor in den meisten Fällen milde Krankheitsverläufe ohne Komplikationen und mit vollständiger Genesung. Besorgniserregend ist aber der schwere und bei der saisonalen Influenza so nicht bekannte Verlauf bei einer geringen Anzahl von Fällen, der zu beatmungspflichtiger, intensivmedizinischer Betreuung und zu Todesfällen insbesondere auch in jüngeren Altersgruppen führt. Obwohl das Risiko eines schweren Verlaufs für bestimmte Personengruppen deutlich erhöht ist, können auch gesunde junge Erwachsene sehr schwer erkranken."
30.10.2009, Beschluss des Ministerkabinetts der Ukraine hat die Nr. 1152 vom 30.10.2009. Dieser Beschluss besteht aus 18 Punkten von denen vier wesentlichen sind - sie lauten in deutscher Übersetzung:
"1. Ab 30.10.2009 wird im Hoheitsgebiet der Ukraine die höchste Stufe der Gefahr der Verbreitung der Grippe A/H1/N1/California/04/09 ausgerufen, und die Durchführung jeglicher Massenveranstaltungen wird verboten.
2. Ab 30.10.2009 wird für 3 Wochen die Quarantäne in den Gebieten Winnyzja, Wolhynien, Transkarpatien, Iwano-Frankiwsk, Lwiw, Riwne, Ternopil, Chmelnyzky und Czernowitz angeordnet.
3. Die Forderungen des Gesundheitsministeriums in den Bereichen Prophylaxe und Kampf gegen die Ausbreitung der pandemischen Grippe sind von allen Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens, Unternehmen, Institutionen und Organisationen unabhängig von deren Eigentumsform verbindlich umzusetzen.
4. Das Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft und andere Behörden der Exekutive, die Bildungseinrichtungen verwalten; der Ministerrat der Autonomen Republik Krim, die Gebietsverwaltungen sowie die Stadtverwaltungen von Kiew und Sewastopol müssen ab dem 2. November 2009 für drei Wochen Ferien in allen Bildungseinrichtungen unabhängig von deren Eigentumsform anordnen und Vorschuleinrichtungen für Kinder schließen." Den vollständigen Text dieses Kabinettbeschlusses finden Sie in ukrainischer Sprache unter:
http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/uk/cardnpd
Der Botschaft liegt die Übersetzung des Erlasses Nr. 996 vom 30.10.2009 des Ministeriums für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Ukraine vor, der sich auf den o.a. Ministerkabinettsbeschluss Nr. 1152 bezieht. Im Erlass wird die Einstellung des Lehrbetriebs... an Bildungsstätten in der gesamten Ukraine für drei Wochen beginnend ab 31.10.2009 angeordnet.
Anmerkung zum Begriff Quarantäne:
Nach Kenntnisstand der Botschaft wird in der ukrainischen Sprache das Wort "Karantin", das ins Deutsche mit dem Wort "Quarantäne" übersetzt wird, bereits verwendet, wenn -wie im vorliegenden Fall geschehen- Bildungseinrichtungen für einen bestimmten Zeitraum geschlossen werden. Die Botschaft hat bisher keine offiziellen Hinweise erhalten, dass im vorliegenden Fall von den Behörden Maßnahmen im Sinne des deutschen Wortes "Quarantäne" - also z.B. Isolierung von Personen, Transportmitteln und Gebäuden oder Regionen ergriffen worden sind. Die deutsche Honorarkonsulin in Lemberg hat der Botschaft am 31.10.-9.30 Uhr mitgeteilt, dass von einer Quarantäne im deutschen Sinn keine Rede ist. Sie wird die Botschaft diesbezüglich auf dem Laufenden halten.
The government and the President have acted with all force and decisiveness, as they all want to save the country in their possibly last days of power.
Schools, Universities and other places, where people get education are closed for the next 3 weeks. Why so long? Bad mouths say that's because 2 or 3 weeks holiday in Egypt are so much cheaper than 1 week and then a prolongation.
All other places, where you maybe meet many people, but your brain is not used as much continue to work normally - metro, busses, offices, ...
Cinemas, concerts and football matches (despite the fact that the latter normally doesn't cause high brain activity) will not happen, for some time.
The prime minister declared that the ongoing campaign for the presidential elections (by the way - did you forget that this is the over-arching theme here at the moment?) shall take a break. Some people say, that was declared on Friday because the president had planned a big event on Sunday, but that's of course not confirmed. Others say that's because politicians want to accompany their kids to Egypt.
What does it mean for us?
1) Sylvie and the kids will stay in Vienna until the dust is settled, the virus is frozen, the worst is over and school starts again
2) Life has changed for the one that's stuck in the chaos:
a) When Peter went to the big Halloween-party organized by the US-Marines, the most popular costumes were doctors, nurses and swine-flu-virus-carriers.
Small detail: the house of the Marines is a cool place. Behind the bar they have the flag of the US-marine corps side-by-side with a huge Lenin-sculpture. Spooky. Who of those who know the cold war would have thought that would become possible in our life time?
b) the safest place outside th apartment seems to be the golf course, as there are VERY few people there. Luckily the weather was good this week-end, so the afternoons were spent there. Spooky - where to go when they close next week-end?
c) When Peter goes to the supermarket, it's crowded and there are few people with masks (Peter hopes to get one next week). Spooky again, better to avoid these many people, so shopping will now happen only late in the evening or in the early morning.
d) Can Peter go to the upcoming match of the champions league on Wednesday ???? Will Dynamo Kyiv play in a spookily-empty stadium?
e) The office is still working normally - will there be any cases of flu? Then we have to close down the office and make it also a spooky place - empty for weeks of quaranteen.
For all those who don't understand what's going on - we recommend to read: "Die letzte Liebe des Praesidenten" (The last love of the president) by Andrey Kurkov. You will find some useful hints to what's going on.
If you need some objective information about the situation, please read the information from the German Embassy as of yesterday:
Informationsüberblick
29.10.2009, 16.00 Uhr, Auf der Homepage des ukr. Gesundheitsministeriums wurden folgende Zahlen (Stand: 29.10.2009) veröffentlicht:
In den drei westukrainischen Oblasten Ivano-Frankiwsk, Lemberg und Ternopil sind insgesamt 37923 Personen an Grippe erkrankt, davon sind 951 im Krankenhaus und 30 verstorben. Weiterhin hat das ukrainische Gesundheitsministerium auf seiner Homepage am 30.10.2009 folgende Angaben des Gesundheitsministers veröffentlicht: Das Institut für Epidimiologie und Infektionserkrankungen hat 22 Proben von Erkrankten untersucht. 11 Untersuchungsergebnisse ergaben Grippe Typ A und davon sieben A/H1N1-California. Die Experten des Viruslabors des Gesundheitsminsteriums haben 8 andere Proben untersucht. Vier davon ergaben Grippe A/H1N1-California (Eine Probe davon war von einem Verstorbenen). Anmerkung: "A/H1N1- wird auch als "Schweinegrippe" bezeichnet.
31.10.2009, Auf der Homepage des ukr. Gesundheitsministeriums wurden folgende Zahlen (Stand: 31.10.2009, 09.00 Uhr) veröffentlicht:
An Grippe erkrankt in der gesamten Ukraine:
164.000 Personen (davon 48.700 in Lemberg, 29.600 in Ternopil, 17.600 in Ivano-Frankiwsk, aber auch im Osten der Ukraine Donezk 15.000 und Charkow 10.200)
Davon im Krankenhaus: 5239
Davon verstorben: 39 (alle aus den westlichen Oblasten der Ukraine, so zB. 14 Verstorbene in Lemberg, 13 in Ternopil und 6 in Ivano-Frankiwsk)
Einschätzung der Krankheitsschwere
Auszug aus der Homepage des Robert Koch Instituts: "Nach Einschätzung der WHO vom 16.10.2009 verursacht die Neue Influenza nach wie vor in den meisten Fällen milde Krankheitsverläufe ohne Komplikationen und mit vollständiger Genesung. Besorgniserregend ist aber der schwere und bei der saisonalen Influenza so nicht bekannte Verlauf bei einer geringen Anzahl von Fällen, der zu beatmungspflichtiger, intensivmedizinischer Betreuung und zu Todesfällen insbesondere auch in jüngeren Altersgruppen führt. Obwohl das Risiko eines schweren Verlaufs für bestimmte Personengruppen deutlich erhöht ist, können auch gesunde junge Erwachsene sehr schwer erkranken."
30.10.2009, Beschluss des Ministerkabinetts der Ukraine hat die Nr. 1152 vom 30.10.2009. Dieser Beschluss besteht aus 18 Punkten von denen vier wesentlichen sind - sie lauten in deutscher Übersetzung:
"1. Ab 30.10.2009 wird im Hoheitsgebiet der Ukraine die höchste Stufe der Gefahr der Verbreitung der Grippe A/H1/N1/California/04/09 ausgerufen, und die Durchführung jeglicher Massenveranstaltungen wird verboten.
2. Ab 30.10.2009 wird für 3 Wochen die Quarantäne in den Gebieten Winnyzja, Wolhynien, Transkarpatien, Iwano-Frankiwsk, Lwiw, Riwne, Ternopil, Chmelnyzky und Czernowitz angeordnet.
3. Die Forderungen des Gesundheitsministeriums in den Bereichen Prophylaxe und Kampf gegen die Ausbreitung der pandemischen Grippe sind von allen Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens, Unternehmen, Institutionen und Organisationen unabhängig von deren Eigentumsform verbindlich umzusetzen.
4. Das Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft und andere Behörden der Exekutive, die Bildungseinrichtungen verwalten; der Ministerrat der Autonomen Republik Krim, die Gebietsverwaltungen sowie die Stadtverwaltungen von Kiew und Sewastopol müssen ab dem 2. November 2009 für drei Wochen Ferien in allen Bildungseinrichtungen unabhängig von deren Eigentumsform anordnen und Vorschuleinrichtungen für Kinder schließen." Den vollständigen Text dieses Kabinettbeschlusses finden Sie in ukrainischer Sprache unter:
http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/uk/cardnpd
Der Botschaft liegt die Übersetzung des Erlasses Nr. 996 vom 30.10.2009 des Ministeriums für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Ukraine vor, der sich auf den o.a. Ministerkabinettsbeschluss Nr. 1152 bezieht. Im Erlass wird die Einstellung des Lehrbetriebs... an Bildungsstätten in der gesamten Ukraine für drei Wochen beginnend ab 31.10.2009 angeordnet.
Anmerkung zum Begriff Quarantäne:
Nach Kenntnisstand der Botschaft wird in der ukrainischen Sprache das Wort "Karantin", das ins Deutsche mit dem Wort "Quarantäne" übersetzt wird, bereits verwendet, wenn -wie im vorliegenden Fall geschehen- Bildungseinrichtungen für einen bestimmten Zeitraum geschlossen werden. Die Botschaft hat bisher keine offiziellen Hinweise erhalten, dass im vorliegenden Fall von den Behörden Maßnahmen im Sinne des deutschen Wortes "Quarantäne" - also z.B. Isolierung von Personen, Transportmitteln und Gebäuden oder Regionen ergriffen worden sind. Die deutsche Honorarkonsulin in Lemberg hat der Botschaft am 31.10.-9.30 Uhr mitgeteilt, dass von einer Quarantäne im deutschen Sinn keine Rede ist. Sie wird die Botschaft diesbezüglich auf dem Laufenden halten.
20091018
Les 7 Ans de Nathalie
October 17 was birthday of Nahalie. As it was Saturday, the party was organized the same day.
The theme of the party - telephone - meant some trouble for parents who needed to equip their kids not only with their mobile phones, but some also came in phone dresses.
A series of games was played, and even the "Kasperl / Guignol" was looking for the phone that was lost by the princess.
Now let's see if the "age de raison" is not only an empty proverb.
Preparing for hard times
Winter is coming in, the heating season has started yesterday, October 16th.
So now it's time to reveal that we have passed the level 2 - survival training camp organized by EBA - European Business Agency
- for all those who are currently stationed in Ukraine and want to survive till 2010.
So here the story goes - we all leave in 5 ships to our training camp - a well known pirate island in the Dnjepr, about 1 hour away from Kiev center. We pass by hundreds of Ukrainians who pass time with their favorite sport - fishing in a little boat on the Dnjepr.
We are told to arrive in Pirate's costumes, so that the inhabitants of the island will not recognize us as foreigners and eat us straight away. Some of us do quite well ...
On the island we learn how it is when you are far away from civilization, and you still have to make a living - and most of all - how to keep on fighintg.
We learn fighting -
1) The Ukrainian way in the line waiting for lunch and dinner
2) The Japanese way as Sumo-ringers
3) The Swiss way with hi-tec-archery.
We did the trip after coming back from vacation from the warm and safe areas of Western Europe, this just to prepare any newcomers for the winter season!
So now it's time to reveal that we have passed the level 2 - survival training camp organized by EBA - European Business Agency
- for all those who are currently stationed in Ukraine and want to survive till 2010.So here the story goes - we all leave in 5 ships to our training camp - a well known pirate island in the Dnjepr, about 1 hour away from Kiev center. We pass by hundreds of Ukrainians who pass time with their favorite sport - fishing in a little boat on the Dnjepr.
We are told to arrive in Pirate's costumes, so that the inhabitants of the island will not recognize us as foreigners and eat us straight away. Some of us do quite well ...
On the island we learn how it is when you are far away from civilization, and you still have to make a living - and most of all - how to keep on fighintg.
We learn fighting -
1) The Ukrainian way in the line waiting for lunch and dinner
2) The Japanese way as Sumo-ringers
3) The Swiss way with hi-tec-archery.
We did the trip after coming back from vacation from the warm and safe areas of Western Europe, this just to prepare any newcomers for the winter season!
20091008
Deciphering the Political Landscape of Ukraine
Today, I listened to a very knowledgeable presentation on Ukrainian politics between the Orange Revolution and today.
Because of the language barrier, I had barely begun to decipher the various names and affiliations of politicians and was very thankful for this overview. I have decided to do my homework online, that is, to retell what I was told (with the help of Wikipedia for the gaps) on this blog.
The most urgent of all questions, that we keep asking ourselves almost daily: how and when will the country come out of this deep political and economic crisis?
The calendar
A glance at the calendar of upcoming political events is part of any answer:
The election campaign for the next presidential elections will officially start on October 19th 2009. The city has been covered with posters, counter-posters and mobile stands for some weeks already. The first round of the elections is scheduled for January 17th 2010. The second round is scheduled for February 7th. The results should be official by the end of February (including appeals and court decisions) and then the new president comes into office within one month.
Bear in mind: orthodox christmas is on January 6th, orthodox epiphany is on January 19th (2 days after the first round of elections). Normally, between Jan. 1st and January 19th, there is not much (business-) activity going on. People are with their families, in their datchas, etc.
So, with a new president in office by the end of March 2010, the municipal elections will take place simultaneously (in March 2010), followed by elections for the regional parliaments in April 2010.
The presidential candidates
The 5 main candidates will most likely be (they can declare their candidacy officially only on October 19th 2009):
Victor Yushchenko (born in 1954) is President today and his party is called "Nascha Ukraina" (Our Ukraine). He was an ally of Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko during the Orange Revolution of 2004. He is an economist, worked as a banker, as chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine he co-created the national currency "grivna". He was also Prime Minister under the previous President Leonid Kouchma. He wants closer ties with the Eu and NATO and would like to put more distance between Ukraine and Russia. He is popular in the West of the country. Current rates of approval are only at 6%.
Yulia Tymoshenko (born in 1960) is Prime Minister today and her party is called "Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko" BYut). She was an ally of President Victor Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution of 2004. She is an economist and made her money in the oil and gas industry, especially in gas-barter-trade in the early 1990s. From this time, she is considered to be one of the rich oligarchs of the country. She wants closer ties with Russia than Yushchenko but is also all for a membership both in NATO and the EU. Her logo is a heart and she has already rallied support from popular Ukrainian show people. Her campaign stresses that the others talk while she works.
Victor Yanukovich (born in 1950) was hand-picked by former President Kouchma to succeed him at the end of his term in 2004, but the whistle was blown by the orange revolution on the blatant election fraud that took place. His party is called "Party of Regions" and he wants to give the Russian language the status of second official language of the country (currently it is Ukrainian only). He served some time in prison on criminal charges (robbery, assault) and is popular in the east and south of the country.
Arsenyi Yatseniouk (born in 1974) was minister of Foreign Affairs and Speaker of Parliament and his party is called "Front Smin" (Front of Change). He is an economist and lawyer. His ongoing poster-campaign (and tents!) has a military look, but apparently that's just my mis-perception. He uses his first name in the campaign. It is supposed to attract young voters. He campaigns on "change" and that he can save the country.
The fifth not-yet-candidate chosen by our presenter this morning is Sergii Tihipko (born in 1960). He campaigns on "change" and is a former minister of economics.
Because of the language barrier, I had barely begun to decipher the various names and affiliations of politicians and was very thankful for this overview. I have decided to do my homework online, that is, to retell what I was told (with the help of Wikipedia for the gaps) on this blog.
The most urgent of all questions, that we keep asking ourselves almost daily: how and when will the country come out of this deep political and economic crisis?
The calendar
A glance at the calendar of upcoming political events is part of any answer:
The election campaign for the next presidential elections will officially start on October 19th 2009. The city has been covered with posters, counter-posters and mobile stands for some weeks already. The first round of the elections is scheduled for January 17th 2010. The second round is scheduled for February 7th. The results should be official by the end of February (including appeals and court decisions) and then the new president comes into office within one month.
Bear in mind: orthodox christmas is on January 6th, orthodox epiphany is on January 19th (2 days after the first round of elections). Normally, between Jan. 1st and January 19th, there is not much (business-) activity going on. People are with their families, in their datchas, etc.
So, with a new president in office by the end of March 2010, the municipal elections will take place simultaneously (in March 2010), followed by elections for the regional parliaments in April 2010.
The presidential candidates
The 5 main candidates will most likely be (they can declare their candidacy officially only on October 19th 2009):
Victor Yushchenko (born in 1954) is President today and his party is called "Nascha Ukraina" (Our Ukraine). He was an ally of Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko during the Orange Revolution of 2004. He is an economist, worked as a banker, as chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine he co-created the national currency "grivna". He was also Prime Minister under the previous President Leonid Kouchma. He wants closer ties with the Eu and NATO and would like to put more distance between Ukraine and Russia. He is popular in the West of the country. Current rates of approval are only at 6%.
Yulia Tymoshenko (born in 1960) is Prime Minister today and her party is called "Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko" BYut). She was an ally of President Victor Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution of 2004. She is an economist and made her money in the oil and gas industry, especially in gas-barter-trade in the early 1990s. From this time, she is considered to be one of the rich oligarchs of the country. She wants closer ties with Russia than Yushchenko but is also all for a membership both in NATO and the EU. Her logo is a heart and she has already rallied support from popular Ukrainian show people. Her campaign stresses that the others talk while she works.
Victor Yanukovich (born in 1950) was hand-picked by former President Kouchma to succeed him at the end of his term in 2004, but the whistle was blown by the orange revolution on the blatant election fraud that took place. His party is called "Party of Regions" and he wants to give the Russian language the status of second official language of the country (currently it is Ukrainian only). He served some time in prison on criminal charges (robbery, assault) and is popular in the east and south of the country.
Arsenyi Yatseniouk (born in 1974) was minister of Foreign Affairs and Speaker of Parliament and his party is called "Front Smin" (Front of Change). He is an economist and lawyer. His ongoing poster-campaign (and tents!) has a military look, but apparently that's just my mis-perception. He uses his first name in the campaign. It is supposed to attract young voters. He campaigns on "change" and that he can save the country.
The fifth not-yet-candidate chosen by our presenter this morning is Sergii Tihipko (born in 1960). He campaigns on "change" and is a former minister of economics.
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