TV comic takes lead in Ukrainian elections

Last night a comedian with no real policies won over 30% of the votes in Ukraine and is the favourite to become president later this month. Why are so many nations electing anti-politicians? Ukraine's favourite TV show, Servant of the People, tells the story of a disillusioned teacher who accidentally becomes president after a video of him railing against corruption goes viral. Now, fiction looks as if it might become reality. Yesterday, Ukrainians went to the polls for the first election since the country's pro-Russian president was toppled in the 2014 Maidan Revolution. The front-runner is Volodymyr Zelensky, star of Servant of the People and one of Ukraine's best-loved comedians. According to exit polls last night he received 30.4% of the first round vote, with current president Petro Poroshenko second on 17.8%. The two will now take part in a second-round vote on 21 April. Zelensky's politics are practically non-existent apart from promising to clamp down on corruption and be open to talks with Russia, whose separatists are fighting with the Ukrainian army near the eastern border. The incumbent, billionaire oligarchAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the country’s economy fell into the hands of corrupt businessmen who became known as oligarchs.  Petro Poroshenko, is widely seen as corrupt. He is the target of one of Zelensky's favourite jokes. Q: "Why does Poroshenko want a second term in office? A: Because he does not want a first term in jail." The world is getting used to such stunning upsets. In 2017 in France, Emmanuel Macron became the youngest-ever president, elected with no party and no previous electoral experience. After the 2018 Italian general election, the largest individual party in parliament was the Five Star Movement, founded by a professional comedian, Beppe Grillo. In 2016 Americans elected Donald Trump, the first ever president who has entirely lacked the experience of both political and military service. And yesterday in Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova became the country's first female head of state with almost zero political experience. Last year a group of political scientists published a book,n The Good Politician,n which attempted to explain this trend. Anti-politics Since the Second World War, they demonstrated, European and American voters have become gradually more negative. One of the main reasons is that politicians are seen as out of touch, self-seeking and dishonest. The idea of what makes a good politician has changed. It used to be possible to be "different" (e.g. rich or upper-class) and still do good. Now voters want politicians to be "in touch", "normal" and also effective. The big questions are (i) to be a genuine person who is honest about who you are, do you have to come from outside the insincere world of professional politics - for example, business (Trump) or comedy (Grillo, Zelensky); and (ii) is politics itself a corrupt business of compromises and broken promises and do we desperately need a period of anti-politics in which things are run in a completely different way? KeywordsOligarch - After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the country’s economy fell into the hands of corrupt businessmen who became known as oligarchs.