Zelenskiy party aiming to form parliamentary majority by itself

The People’s Servant party, led by President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy, will aim to form the parliamentary majority by itself in the early
elections scheduled for July 21, campaign manager Oleksandr Korniyenko told a
May 27 press conference. “We don’t plan to turn to anyone for help or forming
the coalition,” he said. “We have a program for the maximum – forming the
coalition with one political force.” The party’s program, as well as its
candidates for single-mandate districts and closed list, will be presented at
its June 8 congress, Korniyenko said. The same day, the party announced its
leadership, with the 35-year-old Dmytro Razumkov serving as party head, the
34-year-old Korniyenko as campaign manager and the 28-year-old Mykhaylo Fedorov
as digital manager.

The party will recruit its candidates from its list of
about 600,0000 volunteers during the presidential campaign, Korniyenko said.
Candidates will be filtered based on a review of their documents, integrity, a
staff assessment and public feedback, he said. A typical candidate “is a team
player who can defend the interests of our country. They should be a successful
person with a clean reputation,” said Party Head Razumkov, as reported by the
pravda.com.ua news site.

Zenon Zawada: The goal of forming the parliamentary majority, and coalition
government, is realistic for The People’s Servant party, which has 37% support, according to a recent
poll. It will be able to
gain a majority by cobbling together strong candidates in the single-mandate
districts. Declaring such an ambitious feat can backfire, however. In general,
Ukrainians don’t like the idea of any one person having too much power, as
demonstrated in the 2014 parliamentary elections. That’s when the public voted
for The People’s Front party, led by former PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk, as a buffer
against former President Poroshenko and his party (which proved effective). So
if the rival parties play their cards right and select effective campaign
themes and methods, they can boost their results among Ukrainians skeptical of
Zelenskiy, and especially the influence of billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky.