The party of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky "Servant of the People" is losing popularity on the eve of parliamentary elections. This is evidenced by the results of a sociological survey conducted by the Razumkov Center from July 5 to July 11, 2019 among about two thousand respondents in all regions of Ukraine. The results of the study were published on Monday, July 15th.
The survey showed that now the party “Servant of the People” is ready to support about 41.5% of citizens who intend to vote in the upcoming early elections and have already decided on their preferences, and 36.5% of the total number of respondents.
- Vladimir Zelensky
- RIA News
The second place in the ranking was taken by the Opposition Platform “For Life” - 12.5% of citizens who intend to come to the polling stations plan to vote for the party of Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk.
In third place is the party of rock musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk “Voice” - 8.8% of Ukrainians are going to support her, who intend to take part in the vote.
The party of ex-president Petro Poroshenko among his political favorites was named by 8.3% of respondents, and the party of Yulia Tymoshenko “Batkivshchyna” - 7%.
These parties have a chance to overcome the electoral threshold of 5% and go to the new convocation of the Rada, sociologists note.
At the same time, the party of the head of state “The Servant of the People” in the last month rather quickly began to lose popularity - in June it was supported by 48.5% of Ukrainian voters (the research was conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from May 26 to June 7. - RT ) .
The rating of the “Opposition Platform - For Life” almost did not change over the last month - in June, the parties sympathized with 11.8% of the country's inhabitants. The opinion of the population about the party of Petro Poroshenko also changed a little, for which 8.1% had previously planned to vote.
But the party of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk “Voice” noticeably improved its position - in May, only 5.6% of respondents sympathized with it.
"Unrealized hopes"
We will remind, early elections in Rada are scheduled for July 21. The need for an extraordinary vote arose after Vladimir Zelensky announced the dissolution of the current convocation of parliament - this happened immediately after the inauguration of the new president.
Given the downgrade of the Servant of the People rating, experts do not rule out that after the vote, Vladimir Zelensky will have to negotiate the creation of a parliamentary coalition - the chances of winning a decisive majority of the president’s party are becoming less and less.
According to experts, the downgrade of the party is associated with a certain disappointment that people in the country are beginning to experience in relation to the new president.
- © Ministry of Defense of Ukraine / Flickr
So, Vladimir Zelensky has not yet achieved progress in the settlement of the conflict in the Donbass, although during the election campaign he called it a priority task. On the contrary, after he became head of state, the situation in the region began to heat up, shelling increased, and the prospects for resolving the conflict remain vague.
In addition, the Zelensky team failed to achieve a reduction in tariffs for housing and communal services for the population - according to the forecast of the Ukrainian Ministry of Economic Development, in the current year heating could rise in the country by another 10%, and electricity - by 18.9%.
It is worth recalling that the requirement to raise tariffs for the population is laid down in the conditions of cooperation of Kiev with international creditors. The oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who had previously been called upon to Zelensky, to refuse to service at any cost a very heavy external debt.
“If Zelensky listens to the West and does not make his own decisions, he will eventually become like Poroshenko,” the businessman said earlier.
Zelensky refused to follow the advice of a businessman, and now his policy is increasingly beginning to resemble the course of his predecessor, experts say.
“The reason for the fall in the rating of the Zelensky party is unrealized hopes. He is in no hurry to fulfill election promises, pursuing a policy similar to the policies of Poroshenko. And those Ukrainians who voted for Zelensky in the presidential election as opposed to Poroshenko, are beginning to gradually look for new favorites, ”political analyst Rostislav Ischenko said in a commentary by RT.
Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, shares a similar point of view. In an interview with RT, the expert said that the Zelensky’s party rating began to decline long ago.
“Voters in the southeast are disappointed with the lack of peace initiatives on the part of Zelensky, and the belligerent electorate believes that the president of Ukraine failed to take power, acts hesitantly and inefficiently,” Zharikhin said.
According to a RT source in the Popular Front party, voters expected that with the arrival of Zelensky, the situation in the country would begin to change for the better.
“Ukrainians hoped that his coming to power would fundamentally change the situation in Ukraine - the standard of living would rise, tariffs would decrease, peace would be made in Donbas. But after the representative of the president in the cabinet of ministers, Andrei Gerus, said that Zelensky did not promise to lower tariffs and "joked", the voters felt disappointed. It turned out that in practice he is giving in to the pressure of nationalists and is ready to fulfill the requirements of the IMF, ”said the source RT.
In addition, Zelensky is irritating the political establishment of the country - such a point of view in a conversation with RT was expressed by a source in the Batkivshchyna party.
“The political elite, which is opposed to Zelensky, does not want the party“ Servant of the People ”to get a decisive majority. Then, after all, it will not be necessary to negotiate with other parties to form a coalition, and the deputies will not receive any dividends. Therefore, Zelensky is poured on any occasion, and this negative cannot but affect the rating of his party, ”the politician believes.
"May take a strong position"
In the event that the popularity of Vladimir Zelensky and the party he leads continues to decline, some of the votes lost by the People’s Servant will be withdrawn by the Golos party, experts say. According to Vladimir Zharikhin, the growth in the rating of Vakarchuk’s party now observed is due to the fact that many voters see in the person of the musician “a new and untainted personality” whose role Zelensky had previously played.
“Vakarchuk cannot press Zelensky yet, but he can take quite strong positions in Ukrainian politics,” the expert believes.
Recall Svyatoslav Vakarchuk announced the creation of his own party in mid-May.
- The leader of the party "Voice" and the rock group "Ocean Elzy" Svyatoslav Vakarchuk during a rally against the activities of the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev
- RIA News
“I know that this is a difficult, long and persistent road, but we are ready for it. I am sure that if we are sincere, if we clearly convey our messages, our ideology and our beliefs to voters, they will support us, ”the musician said, commenting on the creation of“ The Voice ”.
From the very first days the party took “hawkish” positions, experts say. Speaking about why the “Voice” is going to go to the polls, Vakarchuk declared the need “to destroy the internal enemy and become strong in the face of the external enemy”. The singer-politician tries to reinforce his words with actions. So, it was Voice activists who recently staged a protest outside the building of NewsOne, demanding the cancellation of the teleconference between Russia and Ukraine.
Vakarchuk assures the public that his party is not affiliated with oligarchic circles and receives donations only from ordinary businessmen. Vakarchuk and his party can be viewed by business circles as a counterbalance to Igor Kolomoisky, whom the media have long associated with the current president Zelensky, explained a RT source in the Batkivschina party.
"Zelensky is not trying to protect the interests of the state in the litigation of Kolomoisky because of the assets of PrivatBank." Everyone understands that if Kolomoisky won the trial, he may be interested in other assets. Therefore, the Ukrainian business is investing in the Golos party in the hope that, after passing to the Parliament, it will be able to block decisions that benefit only individual oligarchs, ”the source said.
Commenting on the mood of ordinary voters, experts draw attention to the political "frivolity" of the Ukrainian electorate. According to the source RT in the “Radical Party”, Ukrainians “are fascinated very quickly and just as quickly disappointed” by politicians.
“Half a year ago, Vakarchuk’s rating did not allow him to go to Rada, but now his party’s popularity is growing. Ukrainians want to see new faces in politics and are finally ready to vote for singers and showmen. But voters and are disappointed very quickly. Therefore, some of the people who voted for Zelensky are now ready to support Vakarchuk, ”the interlocutor of the RT summed up.