In April 2019, in Ukraine's presidential election, 41-year-old Vladimir Zelenskiy defeated incumbent President Poroshenko with 73% of the vote, successfully electing the new Ukrainian president, becoming the youngest president in the country's history.
Surprisingly, zelenskiy, a comedian by training, has never had actual political experience, and his only "political experience" is that he starred in the popular TV series "Servant of the People" as a president.
Zelenskiy was born in 1978 to a Jewish family in eastern Ukraine. His father was a university professor and his mother was an engineer. As a child, Zelenskiy spent four years there as his father was sent to work in Mongolia, and the endless steppes and the pristine ecology of the passion wild impressed the young Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy finished the first grade of primary school there and then returned to Ukraine. Zelenskiy's undergraduate major was law, but apparently he wasn't interested in it, but had a passion for acting. During college, he signed up for the Russian comedy reality show KVN, he was born with a sense of joy, performed completely without image, sometimes wore an exaggerated wig, sometimes wore a funny beard, sometimes played a middle-aged big belly man, exaggerated body language and eclectic performance skills quickly won the hearts of a large number of audiences. In 1997, he and his companions formed the comedy performance group "95th Block", which Zelenskiy also served as captain, actor and screenwriter, which quickly gained popularity in the Russian-speaking region. In 2003, Zelensky and his colleague Yelena married, the two are middle school classmates, after years of love marathon, finally entered the palace of marriage.
Zelenskiy and his wife Yelena
Since 2014, ukraine has been in turmoil, domestic and foreign difficulties, politically suppressed by Russia, Crimea has been annexed by Russia, eastern Ukraine is still in the midst of war, the bureaucracy is corrupt and incompetent, the living standards of the people have plummeted, and Ukraine has become the poorest country in Europe. They realized that the rise and fall of nations was the responsibility of the puppeteer, and that change should start with each person himself.
In 2016, Zelenskiy registered a new party under the name "Servant of the People", headquartered in a small office in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and no one could have imagined that this small, unassuming party would quickly become popular in Ukrainian politics, eventually defeating many deep-rooted big parties and winning the presidential election.
On December 31, 2018, on the occasion of the new, Zelenskiy announced that he would represent the People's Servant Party in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential elections. Television stations were the first to broadcast this explosive news. Subsequently, a special congress of the People's Servant Party was held, and Zelenskiy was officially elected as the party chairman and presidential candidate. He mentioned his "Ukrainian dream" during the campaign. He dreamed of a day when doctors and teachers would be fairly paid, corrupt officials would be punished tangiblely, and the elderly would enjoy a comfortable retirement.
Zelenskiy's main rival is the current president, Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko, a Ukrainian billionaire known as the "Chocolate King," was first elected president in 2014. Poroshenko promised to lead the Ukrainian people to unite and end the turbulent political situation, but after a few years, the Ukrainian people were deeply disappointed in him. The war in eastern Ukraine is still going on, and the living standards of the people have not risen but have declined. In stark contrast, Poroshenko and his family's wealth soared, earning 82 times more in 2018 than in 2017. It has been ironically said that President Poroshenko has made Ukraine his own personal cash machine. Under the influence of Poroshenko, the corruption problem of the Ukrainian government is very serious, and almost one out of five officials is involved in corruption.
Zelenskiy's other rival is former beauty Prime Minister Tymoshenko. The female politician, who also comes from an economic oligarchy and once ran a private gas company known as the "Gas Princess", has twice served as the prime minister of the Ukrainian government, but has no outstanding political achievements, but is often associated with coups, economic crimes, and has been imprisoned for 7 years for abuse of power.
Both Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are seen as representatives of the old political system, but these old people in politics are disgusted by the Ukrainian people, who expect to see new faces appear, clean up the mess of Ukrainian politics, change the twilight of the years, and Zelenskiy has become the ideal figure that everyone wants, as the people say, "Maybe comedians can really change our country." ”
Zelenskiy had no previous experience in politics, he was a pure political man, but this was his greatest help. During the campaign, he rarely played cards according to common sense, neither giving media interviews nor making public speeches. He regularly uploads videos on video sites, comments on current affairs, and expresses his political views in a humorous and humorous way. He once said in a short video: "I shuttled through the political elite who said I was a clown, but it is not yet known whose hand the deer died." ”
Two days later, a second round of voting was held in Ukraine's presidential elections. Export polls show Zelenskiy beat Poroshenko, who had 26 percent of his approval ratings, with 73 percent of his approval. That night, Zelenskiy declared victory and promised voters, "I will never let you down!" As a Citizen of Ukraine, I can tell other countries: Look at us, anything is possible! ”。
In just four months to make the leap from actor to president, Zelenskiy achieved a transformation in his life, but his story is not alone. Former U.S. President Reagan was a second-line actor in Hollywood, and his outstanding political achievements during his tenure and his subsequent re-election with a high vote can be described as an example of Zelensky's actions. Although there are many objective factors in Zelenskiy's election, his own excellent characteristics cannot be ignored, such as full of self-confidence, strategy, perseverance, leadership temperament, meticulous thinking, etc., which have been vividly displayed on his campaign road, and will accompany him to sharpen himself on the challenging road of president, and cast the future road of Ukraine with the simple heart of ordinary people.
As Vasha, who played him, said in Servant of the People: "If it works, let me be president for a week, and I will cancel all privileges, villas, and limousines." I want ordinary teachers to live the life of a president, and the president to live the life of a normal teacher. ”