Ukrainiana

Kyiv in Colors 4
A Trip to Kyiv City Elections 2008

Part III
Watch more balcony ads, explore the local housing market, attend a BYuT rally.

May 20


On May 25, lets rid Kyiv of Chernovetsky!
Katerynchuk Bloc, No.28.
[Really? Is that the plan?]





Back to earth






Klychko banners did not appear until two weeks before the election, creating a recency effect.



Horbal is our mayor!




Klychko vs. Chernovetsky









They look like urban slums, don't they?

Facts and figures:

A 3-room apartment in a Soviet-built high-rise like the one pictured above sells at about $180,000-200,000, or $1,500-2,000 per month to rent, depending on design, furniture, and location.

A 3-room in a freshly minted condo will cost you upwards of $400,000, or $3,500-4,000 per month to rent.

The median monthly take-home pay in the private sector in Kyiv runs at about $600.

Wanna move to Ukraine? Be my guest. We're a stable country. No subprime mortgage crisis here;)!



Riverfront Obolon, early morning






Again, not all folks know how to fix them.








Male chauvinism



Chernovetsky Bloc: You support us, we won't fail you.





The gateway to a BYuT rally


Literaly, the caption reads "Buckwheat messes up your wit," a reference to Chernoco election handouts. Naturally, a creative translation would be "Don't be a buckwit!"



With a population of 300, 000, Obolon is a major district and has a strong BYuT base. The rally, which started at 7:00 p.m., drew a few thousand people. Most of them, of course, came to see Tymoshenko rather than her protege, Turchynov. (View this place on WikiMapia.)







As always, Taras Petrynenko and Tetyana Horobets warmed up the rally.




If I vote BYuT, will BYuT be on my side? Or on their side?
"Pisnya pro pisnyu" ("A Song About a Song")


Taras Petrynenko, Tetyana Horobets
"Bozhe, Ukrayinu zberezhy" ("God Save Ukraine")






Turchynov mounts the rostrum, launches into a lecture on the balance of power in the Ukrainian government.


Turchynov courts Kyivites





Tymo steals the show, fires up the audience, talks obstruction, wage & pension increases.





Tymo takes on post-Orange Revolution corruption, without sparing Yushchenko


Tymo blasts Vanco Prykerchenska, registered, in her own words, on Virgin Islands, to four Kyiv college girls. Digging further, she links the deal to the Party of Regions and its big shot owners, who, she said, already had plans to resell the oil field worth in the neighborhood of $450B.


Tymo exposes Yushchenko, Baloha and their shyrka plans.
A man screams: "Yushchenka het!" (Down with Yushchenko!)

Ironically, the last time I saw Tymoshenko here in Obolon was in September 2002, during the "Arise Ukraine" anti-Kuchma protests. We then screamed "Kuchmu het!"

Times change.






As expected, the rally closed with "Ukrayina." The anthem of Ukraine's independence in the early 90s, "Ukrayina" was also the valedictory song that accompanied the Orange leaders' stage appearances at Maidan.