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1 1 (April 24, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzlf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: aCongressional *.Research Service Ukraine Elects a New President April 24, 2019 On April 21, 2019, Ukraine held the second round of its first presidential election since 2014, the year Russia occupied Ukraine's Crimea region and fostered a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. Popular actor-comedian and political novice Volodymyr Zelensky won an overwhelming victory. He defeated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko 73% to 24%. Observers considered the election to be largely free and fair. The election outcome suggests that Ukraine's population is highly dissatisfied with politics as usual. Zelensky, 41, ran as an outsider ostensibly untainted by politics or corruption. His political appeal stems in part from his starring role in a popular television show as a beloved schoolteacher who is unexpectedly elected president of Ukraine after a video of him delivering an anticorruption rant goes viral (the show, Servant of the People, is available with English subtitles online). One question is whether voters believe Zelensky will be the same kind of president in real life that he depicts on television. Despite his outsider status, Zelensky did not campaign as a nationalist or populist. On the contrary, Zelensky is a native Russian-speaking Ukrainian, reportedly of Jewish origin, who asserts that he is a firm patriot and supports closer relations with the West. Zelensky is from Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, north of Crimea, which observers feared might become another flashpoint of conflict in 2014. The election results suggest that issues of national and linguistic identity mattered less than many expected. Zelensky demonstrated a broad appeal, coming in first in all but one of Ukraine's regions. Some believed that Zelensky would attract primarily Russian-speaking southern and eastern Ukrainians who reject the alleged corruption and pro-Russian sentiments of many of their traditional elites but who have felt marginalized in Ukrainian politics since 2014. The scale of his victory was especially striking considering that elections could not be held in Russian-occupied Crimea and several districts in eastern Ukraine that the government does not control. This reduced the size of the electorate more likely to support native Russian-speaking candidates. Zelensky's main opponents ran on more nationalist or populist platforms. Poroshenko has been a strong supporter of Ukraine's integration with the European Union (EU) and NATO, but he unofficially campaigned under a more nationalist slogan of Army! Language! Faith! that appeared on billboards early in the campaign. In addition to seeking credit for Ukraine's closer relations with the West, Poroshenko sought approval as Ukraine's wartime commander in chief and defender of Ukrainian national and religious identity (under his watch, the national Ukrainian Orthodox Church recently received formal independence from the Russian Orthodox Church). Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11105 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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