Zelenskiy offers first political comments

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the 40-year-old comedian who has
wide support as a presidential candidate, said he is seriously considering a
candidacy but stopped short of confirming it in an interview published on Dec.
25 on the gordon.ua news site. He revealed his main political positions,
indicating populist positions but no platform or ideology other than being
“very liberal.” He said he’d negotiate to achieve an end to the war in Donbas,
but without explaining how to achieve it. He said he’d “talk to the devil
himself” so that no one else dies, but added that Ukraine should not negotiate
directly with the Donbas leadership. He also opposes a military solution to the
war. In the interview, Zelenskiy refrained from criticizing any of the current
candidates, including President Poroshenko.

Zelenskiy’s candidacy is widely believed to be backed
by billionaire oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who was targeted by Poroshenko in his
“deoligarchization” campaign that turned out to be selective and politically
motivated. Kolomoisky said he’s backing another presidential contender,
Anatoliy Grytsenko, and he is widely believed to also be supporting the leading
candidate, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Zenon Zawada: In his first
political interview, Zelenskiy demonstrated only a superficial knowledge of the
relevant issues without any depth or consistent ideology. He uttered some
phrases that sound sweet (“protecting human life as the main goal” and
“reaching a middle ground” to resolve the Donbas conflict) but without any
concrete proposals. This further confirms that his future popularity will
largely be a protest vote against the entire Ukrainian elite. Of course, we
can’t rule out that some Ukrainians believe he will behave as nobly and wisely
as the character of a president that he plays in an ongoing television series.

We expect his support will gradually wane as the
official campaign season kicks off (on Dec. 31) and he’s forced to speak and
debate at length. We also believe Zelenskiy himself understands that his
candidacy is a spectacle and he could use the publicity to advance his career,
perhaps beyond television comedy. Indeed, he will likely qualify for parliament
at this point since his registered party, the People’s Servant, is polling in
second place.