VIP Club for young Regions Party members

The Party of the Regions will be engaging new members in is youth wing through discounts at SPA salons and petrol stations. Political analysts suggest that turning the party into an “elite club” could simply irritate the wider public.

On Thursday the youth organization “Young Regions” presented its discount cards which enable members to get discounts on various goods and services in specific outlets partnering the organization.  These range from clothes and shoe shops to beauty parlours, chemists and medical companies.  MP Andriy Pinchuk who took part in the presentation said that a thousand such cards had already been produced. The plan is to produce up to 30 thousand to be distributed among members.

Volodymyr Fesenko, Head of the Applied Political Research Centre, believes that the creation of an “exclusive club of members of the organization” which is how the Young Regions themselves call the initiative will only irritate people .  He is convinced that the initiators of the idea “live in a world of expensive clubs and restaurants and don’t know that the country as a whole lives differently”. He believes it could accentuate social differences even in the ranks of the party itself.

It is not known at present which companies will be taking part or the size of the discount. Fesenko believes it unlikely that businesses will be forced to take part, but adds “If they demand such concessions from all, that will already border on criminal liability”. He considers such methods of gaining members already a type of political corruption.

From a report at: http://dw-world.de/dw/article/0, , 15161666, 00.html