After an overwhelming victory in April’s presidential election, Volodymyr Zelensky is headed for another win: his Servant of the People party is set to take the largest number of seats in the next parliament — and that poses a serious challenge to established political elites.
President Zelensky doesn’t want any experienced politician to serve as prime minister and he doesn’t want to form a coalition with any of the established parties.
Casting his ballot at a polling station in Kyiv on July 21, Zelensky said he is already in talks with several potential candidates for prime minister.
“I believe this person must be a professional economist. I would like this person to be absolutely independent and have never been prime minister, speaker, or leader of any (parliamentary) faction,” he said.
“Maybe some people who are running for parliament see themselves in that position,” he said.
He was clearly referring to Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna party, and Yuriy Boyko, leader of the Opposition Platform For Life party. Both are widely believed to be seeking the job of prime minister. Tymoshenko served as prime minister in the past.
Experts proposed other non-political candidates for prime minister, including ex-Finance Minister and head of Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Danylyuk, ex-Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, CEO of state-owned gas and oil company Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev, Director for Business Development at Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko, and others.
As for the future parliamentary coalition, Zelensky said he wants to see only new faces in it. “We don’t see a coalition with any of the old elites. However, we don’t know which parties will make it (into parliament). That’s why we’ll decide after the vote results.”
