Ukraine’s immediate challenge will be to get over the bitterness of a hard-fought election in which the most vicious things have been said about the two candidates – and those who supported them. If the nation wants to go down the road to destruction, everyone can continue to attack each other.
I’ve been condemned as pro-President Petro Poroshenko and pro-Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the same time. I have my opinions and try to see both sides. Importantly, however, the Kyiv Post on its editorial pages did not endorse either candidate. And on the news pages, we offered balanced and fair coverage of both candidates.
I can understand why Ukrainians overwhelmingly voted for change on April 21 by the biggest landslide in Ukrainian presidential election history. The victory was huge – 73 percent in a democratic election, only four percentage points less than Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s 77 percent in his 2018 coronation.
Ukrainians, who were given a choice, were fed up with Poroshenko, hypocrisy, corruption, Russia’s endless war – and they wanted someone else, anyone else.
I can also understand why Ukrainians wanted to stay the course and keep Poroshenko in power for another five years. He offered effectiveness in foreign policy and a chance, his supporters argued, to complete the reforms he started.
But now it’s over.
The results showed tremendous unity behind Zelenskiy, from east to west, north to south.
This should be respected by Poroshenko and his supporters; nearly three-fourths of the voters aren’t “idiots,” as some of the most virulent presidential supporters suggest.
This also gives all of Ukraine a chance to reconstruct the unity that everyone felt after the overthrow of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych during the EuroMaidan Revolution. Yanukovych and his allies fled to Russia on Feb. 22, 2014, ushering in a tremendous burst of national purpose.
Putin didn’t waste any time, however, in trying to destroy this nation for having the audacity of removing the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych. He invaded Crimea and the eastern Donbas and tried to stir up trouble all over southern and eastern Ukraine, including the cities of Kharkiv and Odesa.
He had no chance as the nation fought back.
Unfortunately, as time went by, the national unity dissipated.
The Yanukovych cronies fled for their lives and the oligarchy also lived in fear, but only for a brief period of time.
They reached an understanding signaled by the Vienna Agreement in April 2014, in which Poroshenko and Vitali Klitschko flew to Austria to hammer out a deal with exiled oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who is still fighting corruption charges in the United States.
The deal, denied by Poroshenko and Klitschko, seems to have gone along these lines: Firtash would throw his support behind Poroshenko as president in the May 25, 2014 election and Klitschko as Kyiv mayor in exchange for Firtash being allowed to keep all his assets in Ukraine and not face any criminal investigations. If that wasn’t the deal, that is certainly what ultimately happened.
After that, the oligarchs went through three stages. First came fear, then laying low, followed by the state where they are now: fully in charge, roaring back to life, controlling media and entire sectors of Ukraine’s economy. They’re riding as high as ever – Rinat Akhmetov, Victor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoisky (especially), Dmytro Firtash, Poroshenko and others.
And these are the challenges that Zelenskiy faces.
He will not be able to destroy the oligarchy or throw anybody in jail. Sorry, Ukraine’s state and its law enforcement apparatus – police, prosecutors, courts – are simply no match for the rich and powerful. They will fight with everything they have to stay out of jail and keep their assets. Government and oligarchs compete for the title of most distrusted institution in Ukraine.
A better strategy for Zelenskiy would be to end the privileges and the monopolies. But even here he will face vicious resistance. Parliament won’t remove its immunity to criminal prosecution – it’s why many of them are lawmakers. Oligarchs won’t give up their gravy-train monopolies that suck the economic life out of Ukraine.
This is why national unity is more important than ever.
Together, Ukrainians, civil society leaders, media, business elites, and Western friends can support a genuine de-monopolization and de-oligarchization drive led by Zelenskiy to change the course of the country.
Let the corruptionists stay out of jail and keep what they have.
But, going forward, Ukraine must have a genuine market economy, with genuine competition, rule of law, respect for property rights, progressive taxation — and honest and effective law enforcement for those breaking the law.
This is the only way to unite the nation and stop people from fleeing abroad to work.
This is the only way to lift 42 million people from grinding poverty.
This is the way forward to a fairer and more just economy.
Let’s hope that everyone – including Poroshenko and his supporters – can agree on these principles.
