Ukraine’s presidential election is no joke. However, a comic actor with zero real-life political experience seems a shoo-in for one runoff spot. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s current president is hoping to claim the other runoff spot.
According to yesterday’s election, actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy will definitely be in the April 21 runoff election for the job. Zelenskyy got 30% support in Sunday’s vote, which included 39 candidates. President Petro Poroshenko was a distant second with about 16%.
No human leader can solve all the ills of a nation. After all, “It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23) But the strong showing for Zelenskyy reflects many Ukrainians’ longing for a fresh leader without links to Ukraine’s corruption-ridden political elite. Many also believe Zelenskyy can help settle the conflict with Russia-backed separatists that has left 13,000 dead since 2014.
On Ukrainian TV, Zelenskyy plays a schoolteacher-turned-president who is angry over corruption. Like that character, Zelenskyy made fighting corruption a focus of his candidacy. He proposed a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of corruption and called for direct talks with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko has seen his approval ratings sink amid Ukraine’s economic woes.
Volodymyr Fesenko, head of a Russian think-tank, predicts that Zelenskyy will easily win the runoff election later this month. “He doesn’t even need to do anything. The current government already has done it, setting most voters against itself,” Fesenko says. “Poroshenko needs to prepare for a defeat.”
Office worker Petro Demidchenko supports the actor, saying, “We don’t know what to expect from Zelenskyy, but over the past five years we have found out what to expect from Poroshenko—corruption, soaring prices, continuing war and poverty.”
(Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, responds to a question during a press conference on Sunday, March. 31, 2019. AP/Emilio Morenatti)
