Ukrainian Institute for the Future -

The cult of the ratings

If you take a look at the start of Hrytsenko`s political campaign – it is always quite the same. At first, he has a fairly high rating. This gives him reason to become more active. Later, he is being “wacked” and his rating eventually rolls down to 3-4%. Actually, his initial high rating is the cause of all his political failures. Perhaps it is a professional deformation (work in the Razumkov Centre), but high rating makes Hrytsenko its hostage. He negotiates from a position of the high rating; all of the first political steps are dedicated to the rating. He always has the same message “look at my high rating, those in power are afraid of me, everyone come to me”. Rating for him is as Gollum’s “my precious”.

Image conflict

The formation of the image of a politician is one of the first points of any election strategy. I regularly ask people what do they associate candidates with, and answers about Hrytsenko are widely dispersed. Someone says that he is principled, someone says that he is a military man, someone says that he is smart and a good analyst, but most people find it difficult to name the associations that are connected with him. All this is a consequence of the failed electoral campaign.

Analyst of own defeats

Finally, one more thing that is especially problematic in Hrytsenko`s campaigns. He is a nailer at explaining his defeats and failures. He is even doing this during the campaign which has not yet ended.

Victor Andrusiv, executive director