Buying a Virtual President in Ukraine
2009-11-6 10:0
On the eve of the presidential election in Ukraine, you now have a chance to gamble in a virtual stock exchange that sells shares of presidential candidates. The online game is called "Buy a President."
Everyone can register online and receive a start-up capital of virtual money. Here you can buy or sell shares of presidential candidates for any price you choose.
Game developers say that it is not only fun, but also an informal rating of the candidates.
[Igor Burakhovskiy, Director of Economic Research Institute]:
"Our preliminary games have shown that the price of shares shows a candidate's rating. It is very close to their actual share in the real-life political market."
The idea of this game came from Germany. "Buy a President" is more popular there, and the value of shares corresponds to the actual rating of candidates. However, in Ukraine fraud was wide-spread when the game was first launched before the 2004 elections.
[Oksana Kuzyakova, Executive Director of the Economic Research Institute]:
"Ukrainians do not want to follow rules, if they can be ignored. In order to gain something, they behave this way."
According to economist Sergei Tolstov, informal ratings on the basis of questionable data are often created to influence voters' minds.
[Sergei Tolstov, researcher at the World Economy Institute]:
"Informal ratings, such as this game, have an influence on the vote, since people already understand that a vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning is a lost vote."
Meanwhile, political analyst Vadim Karasev says that this game will not be very popular in Ukraine.
[Vadim Karasev, Director of the Institute of Global Strategies]:
"I do not think that it will be popular. Firstly, because the segment of Internet users is not so big in Ukraine. And secondly, the stock market in Ukraine is not developed. And ordinary citizens have to have experience in how investment market works to play the game."
Most Ukrainians have not heard of the game yet, but are happy to discuss the upcoming elections.
[Valery Prikhodko, Dneprodzerzhynsk resident]:
"If you talk about the shares, I will tell you my opinion. Today you could invest in the shares of two presidential candidates: Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko."
[Yevgeniy Miroshnichenko, Kiev resident]:
"I am disappointed in our politicians. The upcoming elections will not change the country, and that's all I think."
[Gleb Goncharenko, Kiev resident]:
"I would not play for virtual money, I would not buy with it. And the idea that our candidates can be bought and sold is not new, it is a fact known by everyone."
The Ukraine presidential election is 10 weeks away and political capital is increasing in value.
NTD, Kyiv, Ukraine
