The new president of Ukraine has no program - expert

Baku/22.04.19/Turan: The reason for such a loud victory of Zelensky in the presidential elections in Ukraine is that voters voted against Poroshenko, and not for Zelensky. Such an opinion in an interview with Turan expressed the Ukrainian international journalist Roman Tchaikovsky, commenting on the results of the presidential elections in Ukraine.

According to him, 30% of those who voted for other candidates in the first round, voted for Zelensky in the second round.

Being asked why the voters disliked Poroshenko, the expert answered that the president was accused of corruption, personal enrichment against the background of growing poverty in the country, nepotism.

In addition, the team of Poroshenko during the election campaign made a number of ideological punctures.

"In fact, Poroshenko does not have any serious sins, because there are similar problems in the entire post-Soviet space and hardly any authority can do without this," the expert believes.

Poroshenko's opponent has skillfully unleashed scandals in the press related to violations and corruption in the procurement for the army, fuel purchases in the West.

Poroshenko was accused of unofficial links with the pro-Russian forces (Medvedchuk) and flirting with them. For example, the appearance of Poroshenko on two television channels, the 112th and News 1, was assessed. These resources belong to Putin"s godfather Medvedchuk and in Ukraine; they have long demanded that these channels, expressing Russia's interests, be closed. Therefore, the appearance of the country's president there was perceived negatively by the voters.

Asking the question on the internal and external program of Zelensky, the expert answered that now it is not clear, because the elected head of state does not speak on this topic.

"He does not speak Ukrainian language well. Extremely confused, he expresses his thoughts, does not have political experience and did not even work in some state structures. He has his own show business campaign, quite successful. However, is it enough to successfully govern the country?" noted Tchaikovsky.

There is not any political force behind Zelensky. He seems to have created a party called "The Servant of the People", but this is a purely virtual structure. Now he is attracting a number of former leaders to his team, such as the former head of the Ministry of Finance Danelyuk and the former head of the National Anti-Corruption Agency Ryboshapka. However, the reputation of these figures is not so good.

What will be Zelensky's foreign policy? The expert answered a question that the newly elected president had never held a normal press conference where he could be asked direct questions. He has never spoken about issues such as Ukraine"s membership in NATO, the European Union and relations with Russia. During the debate with Poroshenko, he laughed off and ran away from direct answers to these questions.

The only thing he said was that a referendum should be held on the issue of NATO, but in Ukraine, there is a constitutional law enshrining the issue of movement in NATO and the European Union.

"This is a populist leader who came to power on a wave of protest. Moreover, as a former artist and showman, he skillfully shaped the image of a charming figure who is able to please everyone.

This is a paradox, but precisely due to populism, without giving clear promises, he managed to win the sympathy of voters, thanks to his charm," Tchaikovsky noted.

In his opinion, Poroshenko was undervalued by society, although during his presidency was the hottest phase of the war in Donbass, negotiations with Russia and the West, difficult economic problems.

It is noteworthy that until the end of this year Zelensky will work with the current government, since the new government may be formed after the parliamentary elections in October.

As for the reasons for the fact that the Ukrainian society has made a bet on Zelensky, the expert believes this is due to the overestimated expectations of voters from civil society. Therefore, for a long time, the leader of these sentiments was the famous musician Vakarchuk, who enjoyed enormous prestige and saw the future president in him, but at some point he left the political arena and Zelensky took his place, Roman Tchaikovsky concluded. -02B-