The experts of the Open Society Foundation and the Reanimation package of reforms–Kyiv initiative have compared the campaign promises, the activities of the previous convocation of Verkhovna Rada and the work of the newly elected parliament for the first 50 days. The experts acknowled ged the continued populist practices and absence of clear and measurable indicators of reforms’ results. This approach leads to the frustration of voters and undermines the confidence in politics.
According to Ivan Sikora, the Open Society Foundation Director, the Yatsenyuk’s government program is undermined by the "lack of clear performance indicators to be achieved. We only have the dates for reforms implementation". In his view, the transfer of the vague and clichéd campaign programs, including their further inclusion in the approved program of the government, became a standard procedure. According to Sikora the 25 key indicators of President Poroshenko’s "Strategy for Reforms 2020" presenteda few months ago were somehow ‘forgotten’. At the same time, the faction of Petro Poroshenko Block supported the program of the government, and barely managed to attach the coalition agreement to the program’s text.
According to Sikora, the vague and difficult to measure campaign promises are quickly forgotten. At the same time, the logic of focusing on the process rather than the outcomes is reflected in the governmental documents. The terms of implementation of the promises are transferred and replaced with pure populism.
Such populism can be illustrated by the promises of the parties in the previous convocation of parliament. Despite the political irresponsibility the bulk of MPs were re-elected to Verkhovna Rada. In particular, in the previous election campaign UDAR and Batkivshchyna have promised to leave the personal Income tax in full at the local level. They have never fulfilled this promise and somehow replaced it by limiting to the capital of Ukraine only. The specific promise of the Party of Regionsto provide 60% of the consolidated state budget to the local councils and expand the powers of local governments failed as well despite of PR majority in both the parliament and the government for 3-years. At the end, the promise had been implemented the other way around. The share of local budgets in the revenues and expenditure shad been decreasing from year to year.
Lesya Shevchenko, the senior expert of the Reanimation package of reforms initiative and President of the Open Society Foundation noted that “the programs of political parties elected to the Parliament in October 2014 became more populist and deteriorated compared to the previous parliamentary elections in terms of specificity and measurability". The government program proposes the reformsat the expense of the ordinary citizens. According to the OSF calculations "92.5% of tightening the country’s belts concerns the general population. The share of the officials is 7.5%. A few hundredths of a percent will be the only loss of oligarchs." Did the voters of the pro-government coalition desire this sort of social justice?
The experts were concerned about the repetition of populist practices of the ‘predecessors’ by the current political majority in the parliament. The increased attention of the voters to the election programs of political parties is crucial. The specific declared commitments and performance indicators will encourage the politicians to concentrate on the outcome, and not for the process. This will improve the accountability of politicians for the results of their activities.
The event was held with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (USA), NED.
