Who is such a comedian Zelensky and how he became a favorite of the presidential elections in Ukraine

At the end of January, two reputable Ukrainian sociological services reported that the showman Vladimir Zelensky came out on top in the presidential race, overtaking the veterans of the Ukrainian politics, Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko.

Photo: Facebook / Vladimir Zelensky

Zelensky announced his participation in the pre-election race on December 31 in a video clip styled as the president’s New Year’s address, writes with the BBC.

Zelensky is known as the co-founder of the stand-up show “95th Quarter,” the producer of the TV series “Matchmakers,” and the hero of the comedies “Love in the City” and “8 First Dates.” In Ukraine, there is still a lot of controversy surrounding his nomination: some consider the showman to be a protege of businessman Igor Kolomoisky, others suspect that Zelensky is promoting the next season of the television series “Servant of the People,” in which he plays the main role.

Servant of the people

A one-and-a-half-minute emotional, abounding with obscene language, the speech of the Kiev history teacher Vasyl Goloborodko about the rakes, which the Ukrainian voter constantly attacks, gets on the Internet on the eve of the presidential election campaign.

The whole country is dumped on his electoral pledge, and then elects to the presidency. Inexperienced, but incorruptible. Naive, but principled. Vasily Goloborodko admits in his inaugural speech that he does not understand anything in politics, but he will definitely figure it out.

“I know one thing: you need to act in such a way that later you won’t be ashamed to look your children in the eyes. Well, and to the parents. Well, to all of you, of course,” he says.

This is how the first season of the series “Servant of the People” begins, which for the fourth year now has been proving to Ukrainians that even one simple person can change a rotten and corrupt political system - if he lives and works honestly as president.

In Kiev, filming is now ending for the third season of this series, heading ratings of the most popular TV projects.

And the performer of the role of Vasily Goloborodko - actor, showman and comedian, and recently Ukrainian presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky - plans to repeat the path of the movie hero in real life. Social polls conducted at the end of January brought him to first place in the ranking of electoral sympathies of Ukrainians.

“Our main mission is to bring absolutely renewed people into the politics of our country, fresh, decent people who don’t give a damn,” Zelensky himself said describes the their political goals.

Zelensky expects that a considerable part of potential voters will vote for him, identifying him with Goloborodko from Servant of the People.

“My character and I are, of course, different people. But my moral values ​​coincide with this character,” he said.

From KVN to presidential candidate

Vladimir Zelensky was born in 1978 in Krivoy Rog. As a child, he lived four years in Mongolia, where his father, a doctor of technical sciences, worked, and went to school there. He graduated from the law department of the Krivoy Rog Economic Institute, but never worked in his specialty with the exception of two weeks of practice.

While still at school, he took part in amateur performances. Then he joined the KVN team “Zaporozhye - Krivoy Rog - Transit”, from which he separated in 1997, founding the “95th Quarter” with friends.

After a conflict with Alexander Maslyakov, he left KVN in 2003 and created his own show “Evening Quarter”, which aired on the popular Ukrainian TV channels “Inter” and “1+1”.

The Kvartal 95 studio has produced 10 films and several TV series, including “Matchmakers” and “Servant of the People.”

The show “Evening Quarter” is the most popular comedy program in Ukraine, and Zelensky is one of the country’s most recognizable artists (in May 2017, only 6% of Ukrainians said they did not know who he was).

The current presidential candidate once won the “Dancing with the Stars” competition, was recognized as the most beautiful Ukrainian according to Viva magazine, and has more than once won the Ukrainian industry award “Teletriumph”.

And in last year’s ranking of the most influential Ukrainians according to the magazine “New Time”, Zelensky took 36th place - above the Minister of Defense and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Zelensky supported Euromaidan and, according to the former governor of the Luhansk region Georgy Tuka, financially helped the Ukrainian security forces involved in the operation in Donbass. At the same time, he harshly criticizes the current leadership of Ukraine - in particular, for introducing language quotas in the media and preventing Russian artists from entering the country.

"Famous people on TV"

Zelensky says he started thinking about going into politics “about a year ago.”

However, two BBC interlocutors familiar with the Zelensky team, but not authorized to comment on the details of the campaign in the media, argue that the first sociological measurements about the comedian's possible participation in the elections were held in 2017 year. And even then they showed that Zelensky had good prospects.

Ukrainians are disappointed in politics and politics. Held in late January interview The Razumkov Center, the Socis Center and the Kiev International Institute of Sociology showed: according to 71% of Ukrainians, events in the country are developing in the wrong direction, 61% are convinced that the country needs changes, 66% believe that Ukraine needs new political leaders - those who has not yet been in power.

“Where can we find new leaders? These must be famous people. And famous people are on TV,” said sociologist Irina Bekeshkina.

When survey participants were asked to name potential “new leaders”, the first two places on this list were occupied by media people who were not previously associated with politics - actor Zelensky and singer, leader of the group “Okean Elzy” Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.

“Both Vakarchuk and Zelensky were supported by apolitical voters, who, if only politicians took part in the elections, most likely would not have supported anyone,” said Andrey Bychenko, head of the sociological service of the Kyiv Razumkov Center.

When it turned out that Zelensky’s intentions to participate in the elections were serious, his rating immediately increased.

The second possible reason for the rise in the comedian’s popularity is Vakarchuk’s refusal. The musician kept the intrigue about participating in the elections for several months, but at the end of January he abandoned the presidential nomination.

“When Vakarchuk was not on the list of candidates, a significant part of these people went to Zelensky,” Bychenko explained.

According to the sociologist, if several months ago young voters living in cities in the south and east of Ukraine constituted the core of Zelensky’s electorate, today there are no hard geographical, gender or age criteria that would characterize people who are going to vote for a comedian.

“Spring will show who stole where”

The very announcement of Zelensky’s presidential nomination caused a lot of controversy and discussion. The comedian did this not just on New Year’s Eve and in the style of a presidential speech—his performance was broadcast by the Kolomoisky-owned TV channel “1+1” instead of Poroshenko’s New Year’s address.

Over the next few days, social media and talk shows debated whether this could be considered disrespectful to the institution of the presidency. The discussion only led to the fact that even those voters who did not watch the New Year’s broadcast of “1+1” learned about Zelensky’s nomination.

Zelensky is trying to get the maximum number of people to work on themselves. AT short video for social networks, he announced online recruitment for his “Ze!Team”. The only requirement for its potential members is “you have never been in politics.”

“We will write my program together, the whole country. Then we will find ways to solve all problems. And then we will bring them to life,” the candidate says in the video.

Among almost a thousand comments under this video, as expected, there were extravagant proposals - to introduce the death penalty, imprison all corrupt officials, or raise pensions 10 times.

Last week, Zelensky invited supporters to decide for themselves what color his advertising posters with the slogans “Spring will show who stole where” and “Spring will come - we will plant” will be.

The “highlight” of the campaign was a reality show in which the comedian shows how he is preparing for the elections: he reflects on camera about the future of the country, holds staff meetings, meets with experts and even improves his Ukrainian language. He pulls him up in the literal sense: he translates tricky words from Ukrainian into Russian while hanging on the crossbar. Doesn't know the translation - pulls himself up twice.

“The advanced, rationally thinking public, of course, does not accept such steps. But Zelensky has a protest electorate. For him, for his fans, these are completely normal things,” said political scientist Vladimir Fesenko.

“The dominant motive for his support is the rejection of traditional politicians, traditional political formats. Therefore, the more unconventional Zelensky acts, the more success he will have with his supporters,” Fesenko believes.

In March, a few weeks before the elections, Zelensky’s studio “Kvartal 95” is going to hold a large-scale tour of the cities of Ukraine. It is possible that some concerts of the band, which is not cheap by Ukrainian standards, will be held free of charge as part of this tour.

“I will not campaign for myself. I won’t say: vote for Zelensky,” the candidate promised, responding to accusations that the tour had signs of illegal campaigning.

Finally, even before the elections, Zelensky’s studio “Kvartal 95” plans to finish work on the third season of the series “Servant of the People.” The plot is being kept secret, but individual fragments of the footage that have leaked online leave no doubt: the Ukrainian authorities in the series will be ridiculed even more harshly than usual.

In the meantime, billboards with the inscription “President. Servant of the People,” advertising not so much the series as the candidate himself.

Both for the “vatniks” and for the patriots

The current leadership of Zelensky in electoral ratings does not mean that the outcome of the elections has become predictable. About 20% of potential voters remain undecided in their sympathies.

In addition, it’s not a fact that all voters who are now talking about the readiness to vote for Zelensky will eventually do it.

“Zelensky’s risk is that he is an omnivore.” He is an acceptable candidate for a wide range of voters who do not like old politicians: both moderate “vatniks” and moderate patriots. But such an electorate is extremely difficult to retain,” Fesenko believes.

Another feature of the apolitical electorate that Zelensky relies on is that they are reluctant to vote. After all, it’s one thing to answer the questions of a sociologist who came to your home, and another thing to get to the polling station on voting day.

“A Zelensky voter is exactly the kind of person who, if the weather is good on election day, will go to a barbecue, and if the weather is bad, he will lie on the couch and watch a TV series with Zelensky in the title role,” noted political scientist Valery Dymov.

The presidential election in Ukraine will be held on March 31.

Photo: Instagram / zeteam2019

“Absolutely everyone will kill him”

Another serious challenge for Zelensky will be that after the publication of the results of the latest opinion polls, the other participants in the pre-election race will start to treat him much more seriously.

“Now heavy artillery will work against him,” Dymov is convinced.

“Absolutely everyone will kill him,” agrees Fesenko.

Moreover, there are much more questions to Zelensky’s presidential candidate in real life than to his alter-ego from the series.

Perhaps the main complaint of opponents is the accusation that a comedian without the slightest experience of political activity is unprepared to perform the functions of supreme commander in chief in conditions of an actual war in the east of the country.

There are several scandals that he can remember. In 2016, at a concert in Jurmala, Zelensky compared Ukraine to “an actress in German films for adults who is ready to accept any amount from any side,” as he joked about foreign loans. Later he made excuses: it was about loans, for which “our children” would then be responsible.

In addition, recently journalists from the Schemes project discovered Zelensky’s participation in a Cypriot company, which, in particular, produces films that receive government funding in Russia. Affiliation with Russian money, and especially budget money, is a slippery slope for any presidential candidate in Ukraine.

Zelensky reacted nervously to a question about Russian business, saying that journalists “sharply jumped out at him.” He stated that he does not work in Russia, the company sells intellectual rights, and the money is then spent in Ukraine.

On January 24, the TSN television channel reported that Zelensky left the Cypriot company that was involved in the investigation of the Schemes project.

Finally, questions arise about the possible connection of Zelensky with businessman Kolomoisky. One of the richest citizens of Ukraine, the former governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region now lives in Israel, from which he harshly criticizes President Poroshenko.

In 2016, Ukraine nationalized Privatbank that belonged to Kolomoisky, now the authorities accuse him of failing to fulfill obligations to the bank that belonged to him.

Kolomoisky’s channel “1+1” broadcasts Zelensky’s comedy show “Evening Quarter”; the news on the channel describes Zelensky’s foray into politics in extremely positive terms - finally, the oligarch himself speaks very complimentarily about the comedian-politician.

The presidential candidate assures: his relations with Kolomoisky are of an exclusively working nature.

What if Zelensky wins

The results of the January surveys forced many experts and politicians to change their attitude towards Zelensky-politician.

“If Zelensky becomes president, I would not rule out that some kind of political-oligarchic consensus will form against him - simply as a fuse against such an incomprehensible, non-standard president,” noted political scientist Fesenko.

“I think that a constitutional reform can be carried out quite quickly in Ukraine, cutting off presidential powers and turning the country into a parliamentary republic,” the expert admits.

Even if the showman does not win, he will have a real opportunity to continue his journey into politics, experts are sure.

The Servant of the People party, which nominated Zelensky for election, according to opinion polls, confidently enters the next convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, elections to which will take place in October this year.

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