Something shocking happened in the Ukrainian elections on Sunday. Something that should be taken seriously by all people and all politicians.
Something that reveals a lot about the situation in the World. Something not so pleasant.
In particular, a comedian who played the role on TV of a man who became president by accident…was actually elected President. Not by accident, and not by a little bit. Rather, he was elected with 70% of the vote.
His name is Volodymyr Zelensky and he is 41 years old.
His victory may seem funny at first, but it is not cause for laughter. Surely, we should probably be crying.
Ukraine is a large country in terms of population – 42 million people. It won its independence in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and since then has faced serious problems – among them, the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
The autocephaly granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to her Church provoked a fiery reaction from the Russian Church.
Its GDP per capita is the third lowest among the countries of Europe and the CIS. Only Tajikistan’s and Uzbekistan’s are lower.
Undoubtedly, the victory of Mr. Zelensky – who has never held any public office – is a crushing rebuke to the political and business establishment of the country that the defeated ex-president Petro Poroshenko represents.
And as has happened in a number of other countries, from the rise of Tsipras to the election of Macron, Trump, and others, the people now prefer to experiment with unknown quantities and appealing personalities without political experience, rather than have things continue as before.
They can no longer bear to look at a dead end in front of them and are willing to roll the dice in a revolt against the corruption and impotence of their leadership.
No, the example of the comedian who was elected President of Ukraine is not cause for laughter. Let’s hope it does not end up in a tragedy.
In any case, it is a situation from which everyone everywhere, people and politicians, must draw the right conclusions.