Title: To serve the people – total power in Zelensky’s hands. OSW Commentary Number 306, 24 July 2019
Abstract: The key slogans of the campaign of Volodymyr Zelensky and his party Servant of the People
ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections were: to bring fresh blood into the political
class and to introduce honest professionals to politics who have not been discredited.
The new president had no political experience whatsoever and, as a result of the parliamentary
election, over three quarters of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament)
will be taken by individuals who have never served as members of parliament. The new parliament
will have the lowest average age of its deputies since 1991 and the largest proportion of
women (around 20%). The largest number of new and young politicians has been introduced
to the Verkhovna Rada by the Servant of the People party and the Voice party.
The sweeping victory attained by Zelensky’s party will allow it to form a government by itself.
The president has announced that a new prime minister will be an economist “without political
experience”, and it can be assumed that this principle will also apply during the selection
of most of the new ministers. Thus Ukraine, being at war with Russia and struggling with low
economic growth, will be governed by individuals who are new to politics. This situation, being
an effect of the high hopes and expectations of the Ukrainian public for a fundamental
change of the system, is giving rise to the significant potential for positive changes but also
might put the political stability and further development of the Ukrainian state at risk.
Publication Year: 2019
Publication Date: 2019-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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