In the first round of Ukraine’s 2019 presidential elections, over 30 percent voted for comic-turned-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while under 16 percent supported the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected after the EuroMaidan Revolution sent Viktor Yanukovych fleeing to Russia. This happened despite the fact that Volodymyr Zelenskiy has zero political experience, is struggling to put together a team and program, avoids live interviews and debates on political issues, and gathered his impressive popularity rating thanks to ample airtime of his comic group Kvartal 95 and the TV series “Servant of the People,” where he plays the president of Ukraine, on the wavelengths of one of Ukraine’s largest TV channels belonging to oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskiy. This is at least surprising given the fact that Ukrainian society was thought of having matured after EuroMaidan. EuroMaidan Press met with Iryna Bekeshkina, a Ukrainian sociologist who directs the Ilko Kucheriv “Democratic Initiatives” fund, on the sidelines of the Kyiv Security Forum to understand the Zelenskiy phenomenon amid changes among regular Ukrainians after the revolution of 2013-2014.
2019 Presidential Election
EuroMaidan Press: Sociologist says support for Zelenskiy tells about infantility of society
Ukrainian comic actor, showman and presidential frontrunner Volodymyr Zelenskiy (C) celebrates as he sees the first exit poll results at his headquarters in Kyiv on March 31, 2019.
