22 April 2019
Early results suggest that Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a sitcom comedian is heading for a landslide victory in the presidential election. Sitting president Poroshenko accepted defeat based on exit polls. U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenber already congratulated Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy, 41, became famous because of his comic role in a Ukrainian TV series of a high school teacher who becomes president after a video clip against corruption goes viral. In his real-life campaigns also Zelenskiy denounced graft.
Zelenskiy’s image suffered a setback by his admission that he had commercial interests in Russia through a holding company, and by his business ties to self-exiled Ukrainian billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Kolomoyskyi owns the TV station that aired the sitcom, “Servant of the People,” and his other comedy shows.
People of Ukraine were fed up with rampant graft, a sickly economy and a grinding, five-year war with Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country that has taken its toll on over 13,000 lives.
During Poroshenko’s five years in office the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow’s church, was created. Also, Ukraine reached a visa-free deal with the EU which enabled millions of skilled workers to reach out for better living conditions elsewhere in Europe. Yet, the people were disappointed because Poroshenko had not done enough to curb corruption in the government. BBC reported.
