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Category: Ukraine elections 2019

Spot the reformers among Ukraine’s presidential candidates

Many of Ukraine’s presidential candidates systematically lie about their support for reforms and European integration. Finding the real reformer is hard – but urgent if Ukraine is to break the cycle of corruption and Russian aggression.

March 26, 2019 - Taras Kuzio

Ukraine’s far right unclear prospects in the 2019 elections

Moscow has long exploited Ukraine’s far-right movements as scarecrows, inflating their political importance, in an effort to discredit the Ukrainian nation, as a whole. But in reality, ultra-nationalist parties in post-Soviet Ukraine have struggled to find support for several election cycles now. If the various groups cannot unite, they are likely to fail once again in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

March 22, 2019 - Andreas Umland

Three reasons why a comedian should not be the president of Ukraine

As the Ukrainian presidential elections approach later this month, many political scientists are talking about the shocking popularity of comedian-candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But perhaps they should also spend more time discussing the negative aspects of the candidate and the struggles his potential election could bring to Ukraine.

March 19, 2019 - Taras Kuzio

Ukrainian politicians continue to lie in Brussels – and to their voters

A recent panel in Brussels gave five Ukrainian presidential candidates the opportunity for a surrogate to give a speech on behalf of their campaign. Most of them were utterly deceptive, simply lying, rejecting the firm positions of their candidates to tell the European audience what they wanted to hear. Such deception reveals a troubling future for Ukraine if one of these anti-Western populists takes the presidency.

March 12, 2019 - Taras Kuzio

Who can make Ukraine great again?

The upcoming Ukrainian presidential elections are an opportunity to continue the reform process that has, so far, produced effective results and to instil a political will to deliver other fundamental changes. But this opportunity is likely to be missed, as many candidates offer band-aid solutions with no clear strategic vision.

Much like champagne and fireworks, the presidential address delivered before the countdown to midnight is a traditional ingredient of New Year celebrations in Ukraine. As 2018 was ending, 1+1 – a top TV channel owned by oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky – broke that sequence. It aired Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and entertainment producer, announcing his long-speculated bid for the presidency. “There is a third way: to try and change something in the country and I have chosen it for myself,” he said in a soothing voice familiar to his comedy show, jewellery ads and TV show The Servant of the People, a series where he plays an honest schoolteacher who accidentally becomes president and sends corrupt officials to jail amidst dramatic soundtracks and standing ovations from vyshyvanka-clad extras.

March 5, 2019 - Anna Korbut

The presidential campaign in Ukraine: new front-runners and old challenges

Given the new trends of the Ukrainian presidential campaign and the unexpected leadership of the candidate-comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the polls, one can well expect the consolidation of the political heavyweights Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko to counter a non-system player who is nevertheless capable of burying their chances of political success in the upcoming elections.

March 4, 2019 - Ruslan Kermach

The ambivalence of the Zelenskiy candidacy

Could the jester become king?

February 22, 2019 - Andreas Umland

Tymoshenko’s populist multi-vector programme for the 2019 election

Yulia Tymoshenko began her election campaign first among candidates and has, according to estimates by different Ukrainian NGO’s, spent the most on it. Tymoshenko was in the lead in every opinion poll until February and she has a good chance to be elected president in the second round of the elections in the third week of April.

February 18, 2019 - Taras Kuzio

Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy leads presidential campaign polls in Ukraine

Well-known Ukrainian showman and recently-confirmed presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy unexpectedly leads in the public support polls. His alternative candidacy is revealing of several challenges facing Ukraine today.

February 12, 2019 - Ruslan Kermach

What should the West demand from Ukraine in 2019?

It has long been commonplace to say that as long as the old political class of Ukraine is not interested in changing the system, reforms in Ukraine are achieved only by joint pressure from the West and Ukrainian civil society. Why is that so?

January 22, 2019 - Valerii Pekar

Yulia Tymoshenko: A ghost of Ukraine’s past

Is Ukraine in need of a comeback by the "Gas Princess" and her not so transparent connections?

January 21, 2019 - Ariana Gic

How to talk about Ukrainian politics in the West

Hyperbolic warnings about allegedly disastrous consequences of a Tymoshenko presidency are demobilising western support for Ukrainian reforms and defence.

January 21, 2019 - Andreas Umland

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