The party of Volodymyr Zelenskyy "Servant of the People" has not yet reached the point, followed by a quick and ruthless dismissal, but such a prospect was clearly looming before it.
2019 was a time of electoral triumphs for Zelensky.
2020 has turned for him at a time when he should start getting used to receiving painful clicks on the nose from the electorate.
Of course, no politician wants to get used to something like that.
But, as they say, we must, Fedya, we must!
The results of the recent local elections in Ukraine, which were not very happy for the presidential party, are the first swallow of Zelensky's upcoming problems with voters.
This swallow will certainly be followed by other, even less pleasant for the head of the Ukrainian state "birds".
In 1993, parliamentary elections were held in Canada.
On the eve of these elections, the country's ruling Progressive Conservative Party had an absolute majority in the House of Commons with 156 seats.
But as a result of the campaign of the citizens of Canada to the polling stations, only one memory remained from this majority in the form of two (yes, I was not mistaken, it was two deputy seats).
If we assess the result of Zelensky's party in the local elections through the prism of the misfortune that befell the party of Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, then we can come to the conclusion: the President of Ukraine is not so bad yet, his "political glass" is not half empty, but half full ...
But is it correct in this case to use this particular prism?
Apart from a short break in 1983-1984, the Canadian conservatives and progressives have been in power since 1979.
This is a long enough time for the voters to get bored.
Zelensky's party lost its dominant position in Ukrainian politics much more rapidly.
A little more than a year - such a "long term" separates the electoral successes of the pocket political force of the head of the Ukrainian state from its electoral failures.
Why did it happen so quickly?
Here's my version.
Imagine that you are a wealthy person and have just hired a servant.
This servant showered you with compliments from morning to evening, but at the same time completely does not fulfill his direct official duties.
The house is not cleaned.
Lunch is not prepared.
The cow is not milked.
Hay is not cut.
The horse has no oats in the stall.
How long will you tolerate such a "worker"?
How long will his vows of eternal devotion be sufficient compensation for the fact that time passes and the work is not done?
Some individuals who "love with their ears" may take a week or two.
But most of us will fire such a servant the very next day.
The Ukrainian people now have no opportunity to do the same with the Servant of the People party.
Vladimir Zelensky, in fact, has just started serving his presidential term.
The Verkhovna Rada, which is dominated by the Servant of the People, has also just begun its work.
The Ukrainian people had only the opportunity to say phi to their "servant" during the local elections.
This opportunity was used to the full.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is no longer the favorite of voters and the “golden boy” of Ukrainian politics.
The President of Ukraine took the first steps towards his transformation into a political midget - a politician who has no real chances to remain in the chair of the head of state for a second term.
Isn't this assessment too harsh?
Maybe I am too biased towards Vladimir Zelensky?
Having asked myself similar questions, I took a long break from writing this text.
After thinking hard during this break, I came to the following conclusion: yes, there is definitely an element of bias in my attitude towards Zelensky.
But how can a given politician be treated differently if he suffers from a chronic inability to fulfill his campaign promises?
The peculiarity of the political style of the current Ukrainian president is his constant attempts to "replace bread with spectacles."
In the real life of the Ukrainian state, nothing changes for the better.
The country is still sliding down an incline.
But the president writes down a very cool and creative congratulations to the citizens of the country on the New Year.
The colorless cabinet of ministers under the leadership of Aleksey Goncharuk, having barely started work, is being replaced by an equally colorless government led by Denis Shmygal.
But on the other hand, the president agitates Ukrainians with an extremely burning question, whether the country should not legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The way 450 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada are now working for the good of the country does not inspire Ukrainians too much.
Therefore, at the suggestion of Zelensky, they are given a "right way" to solve this problem: the number of people's deputies must be reduced by 150 people.
How such a reduction will improve the quality of parliament's work remains behind the scenes.
But this is all Zelensky needs!
He needs the voters to vividly discuss the "trickery", and all real questions remain behind the scenes.
Such a policy can only be effective for a very limited period of time.
As the results of local elections in Ukraine show, the countdown has already begun for Zelensky.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.