The future prime minister of Ukraine, who will be appointed after the elections to the Verkhovna Rada, should be a professional economist who has not previously held high political posts. This statement was made by the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky after he voted at a polling station in Obolon district of Kiev.

“Prime Minister, I will honestly tell you, and some people who go to the parliament today may not like it ... I think that this person should be an absolutely professional economist,” he cites Zelensky.

“I would very much like this to be an absolutely independent person who has never been a prime minister, a speaker or a leader of any faction. I see such a person, ”the president added.

The head of state added that he was already holding consultations on the appointment of the future head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In addition, Zelensky reiterated that his party “The Servant of the People” was not aimed at forming a parliamentary coalition with representatives of the “old government”.

“I do not want to change my decision and I will insist with my colleagues from the party ... on the same decision that we previously had - so that they were exclusively new faces. We don’t see a coalition with the old government, ”the president said, adding that final decisions would be made on the basis of the elections.

At the same time, the President expressed the hope that among the first draft laws that the new composition of the Verkhovna Rada will consider, there will be a provision on lifting the parliamentary immunity.

“One of the first, because on the first day there will be more than one bill, I'm sure. Finally, we must remove immunity with you, ”the head of state emphasized.

“Ukraine needs to be able to negotiate”

Commenting on the recent statements of Vladimir Zelensky, RT sources in the Ukrainian political forces criticized both Zelensky’s point of view and the fact that this statement was made on the day of parliamentary elections.

“Zelensky is an inexperienced politician. To make such statements in public, at least, is short-sighted. I understand that he wants to invite to the post of prime minister a person without experience in politics, but this will not work. In Ukraine, you need to be able to negotiate, and not make loud statements. Ministry officials can sabotage work if they don’t like the new manager. An exemplary fight against corruption will only worsen the situation, ”the interlocutor of RT in the Popular Front party believes.

As an example of such a development, he cited the work of Mikhail Saakashvili as the governor of the Odessa region, where the associates of the Georgian politician occupied a number of key posts, but failed to achieve the necessary results.

  • At one of the polling stations during the voting in the parliamentary elections in Ukraine
  • Reuters
  • © Gleb Garanich

In turn, a source in the Batkivshchyna party believes that with such statements Zelensky allegedly admitted that he intended to interfere in the work of the Rada.

“Vladimir Zelensky every day“ pleases ”us with interesting news. It turns out that in a democratic and parliamentary-presidential country to which Ukraine supposedly belongs, the president appoints the president ... The president practically admitted that he intends to interfere in the work of the Rada and does not plan to take into account the opinion of the deputies on key issues. This can lead to conflict, ”said a source in Batkivshchyna.

At the same time, the RT interlocutor in the Radical Party drew attention to the fact that the new president of Ukraine does not take into account the experience of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, who “planned to fight corruption” by inviting “honest foreign politicians” to the government and state-owned companies.

“Even“ Georgian troops ”of specialists came to Ukraine. They could not do anything. A person with great connections and experience in solving “non-standard tasks” can make real changes. There are few such people in Ukraine, and they all, as a rule, have a difficult reputation. But instead, the post of prime minister will invite a specialist with foreign education who will try to reform the country according to the rules written in textbooks. You can imagine how subordinates will react to such a person and what reforms he can carry out, ”said the deputy from the Radical Party.

"For all the good - against all the bad"

Commenting on the requirements that Zelensky put forward for the candidacy of a future prime minister, the director of the Institute of Modern State Development Dmitry Solonnikov noted that these conditions are not any extraordinary in modern world politics. However, the parameters voiced by the president are still rather vague, and with the exception of a few Ukrainian politicians, to whom Zelensky “sets up a barrier,” the rest may well apply for the position.

“He does not offer anything supernatural, quite a logical trend. Especially since his party does not yet have a distinct ideological platform ... The party is built on the principle “For all the good - against all bad.” In this regard, it will be easy to choose a prime minister with similar characteristics, ”the expert believes.

In turn, political scientist Yury Svetov, in an interview with RT, stated that the new president of Ukraine, firstly, would like to have a prime minister who is not connected with the elite of Poroshenko’s times, and secondly, that he should deal exclusively with economic issues, without interfering with the political country life. It is precisely with regard to the second paragraph that the difficulty may arise, since now the head of the Cabinet of Ministers on the constitution has a serious dependence on the Rada and must coordinate most of his decisions with the parliament, and not with the president.

“I imagine that the person Zelensky is thinking about will most likely be from his team, from his closest circle. Today this statement pursues the following goal: to show that people like Yulia Tymoshenko should not pin their hopes that they can bargain in the future parliament for the post of prime minister. This whole set is good, good wishes, but much depends on how the elections to the Rada will be held. But my impression is that this will be another choice from “Quarter 95”, the political scientist noted.

According to the head of the Ukrainian Analytical Center, economist Oleksandr Okhrimenko, there is rational grain in the president’s rhetoric, another question is whether he will be able to realize this intention.

“Today, there is a different set of candidates that are discussed, most likely, the prime minister will be from Zelensky’s entourage ... That this will be a very close person to him, and that this person will be politically engaged is a fact. So, talking about the fact that it will be an independent economist is just chatter, ”Okhrimenko is sure.