Volodymyr Zelensky: ressources et limites de la popularité (étude de cas basée sur les élections présidentielles en Ukraine, 2019)

Abstract

Ukraine’s presidential election has given the electorate a new model of political leadership. Some political scientists rushed to identify him as a newly elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a model populist leader. ThTh e leader of the party created in the context of the presidential election, the „Servant of the People”, won over 73% of the vote. In January 2020, however, its rating dropped dramatically to over 21%. In this context, we set out to analyze the electoral and post-election rhetoric, the reasons for the depletion of popularity and trust in President Zelensky. The main factor did not allow President Zelensky to reiterate the performance of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections and in the 2020 local elections was the loss of popular sympathy, continued confrontations with opposition leaders, maintaining the tense situation in the Donbas region, the lack of effects of fighting initiatives. In the absence of local structures of the „Servant of the People”, the new charismatic government has not proved its effectiveness