Ukraine elects former comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, as president

Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian and filmmaker with no political experience won the Ukrainian presidential election on April 21. Zelenesky gained 73.2% of the votes with the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko far behind him with only 25.3% of the votes, according to Ukraine's state broadcaster Ukrinform

Ukrainian people’s decision to elect a newcomer as their new head of the state is reasoned by their disappointment with the previous political leadership. The country has been struggling economically since 2013 and is one amongst the poorest European countries. Corruption, which was rampant in Ukraine, only worsened with Poroshenko at the helm of the country.

There is an ongoing war Ukraine wages with the Russian-backed separatist in eastern part of the country, which resulted has claimed 13,000 lives from 2014 till date.

Prior to his entry in politics, Zelensky starred in movies and TV shows, most notably in a Netflix series by the name Servant of People. The show has Zelensky in the role of a high school teacher, who one-fine-morning becomes the president of Ukraine.

Jeremy Hunt, British foreign minister in response to the Zelensky’s landslide victory tweeted, "You will now truly be the Servant of the People".

Zelensky undertook the most unconventional campaigning methods by keeping political rallies, serious interviews and discussion about his policies to the bare minimum. What he did instead was tour the length and breadth of Ukraine with comedy troupes, performing skits and thus connecting to the people. Parallel to this, Zelensky also made use of social media to get to the voters.

“To all Ukrainians, no matter where you are, I promise that I will never let you down. Though I’m still not president, I can say as a Ukrainian citizen to all the countries of the former Soviet Union: Look at us. Everything is possible,” were Zelensky’s words after the results were announced.

Zelensky’s ascent to power hopes to bring a change to the oligarchic rule Ukraine has been under, since its independence in 1991. Unfortunately, Zelensky’s own relationship with Ihor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch has been under scrutiny in the recent past.

Zelensky has promised to continue Ukraine’s pro-western course and not to give away any part of the Ukrainian territory to Putin on negotiations. The armed conflict backed by Russia has started in the Donbass region of Ukraine since 2014. The conflict sparked off in the aftermath of popular protests in Ukraine which de-seated the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.

The tension between Ukraine and Russia escalated in November with the capture of three Ukrainian navy ships and detainment of 24 sailors by Russia.

Russia’s interest in Ukraine in manifold. Putin’s intentions to keep Ukraine under his control is to preserve Russia’s influence in Eastern Europe so as to maintain a balance of power. The geostrategic location plays an important role in determining Ukraine’s relations with Russia. Ukraine shares borders with the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova which allows the country to play major role in Eastern and Central Europe.

Many remain doubtful on how Zelensky will deal with Russia. "Zelensky doesn't have experience, and Putin is a very dangerous adversary. There's a lot of risk here," political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.

In the coming days, people of Ukraine will be looking forward to Zelensky’s policy plans, both domestic and foreign. It will be not be an easy task for Zelensky to prove his critics wrong, who have already started comparing him to Donald Trump on account of his lack of political experience.

In the backdrop of persisting financial crisis and Russian-backed separatists movements going on in Eastern Ukraine, the newly elected president will have to act quick for situations in Ukraine to get better.