It was the evening of July 21, and in the Parkovyi Convention Center, and the crowd of journalists and supporters was waiting. Then, President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived, taking to the stage in white sneakers, a plain blue shirt, and black jeans — the informal look that has become his trademark.
It was the same stage where Zelensky had celebrated his presidential victory three months ago. But, this time, he was here to mark another major political win.
His party, Servant of the People — comprised of political novices like him — had just stormed the parliament, taking nearly 44 percent of the vote by party lists in the parliamentary election, according to exit polls.
As confetti flew through the air, Zelensky joked: “73 percent would be better,” referring to his own result in the April 21 presidential election. The comedian-turned-president had a reason to be in a good mood. His party had already achieved a remarkable victory.
But as the night wore on, his win got even better. Servant of the People scored a historic landslide: 246 seat mandates in the 424-seat parliament through both the party list vote and Ukraine’s many single-member districts, according to preliminary results as of 10 a.m. on July 22. That gives the party enough seats to rule without forming a coalition government.
Zelensky thanked the people of Ukraine for their trust and support.
“Tonight we may relax, but not too much,” he said. “Tomorrow we have to get down to work. We will work on everything we have promised to Ukrainians: to stop the war, return our prisoners, and defeat corruption.”
Answering questions from journalists, the president said he was talking to potential candidates for Prime Minister. He wants the future head of government to be a professional economist who has never held a top political post, who is independent and respected in both Ukraine and in the west.
The name of the new Prosecutor General “will not start with Lu and end with Ko,” Zelensky joked, implying that incumbent Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko will go.
New leaders
Dmytro Razumkov, 35, has experienced a meteoric rise. Seven months ago, he was a low-profile political consultant and speaker of Zelensky’s campaign office. Now, he is the leader of the ruling party and potential speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.
According to Razumkov, one of his first moves will be to reform parliament and end immunity for lawmakers. He also plans to introduce to penalties for not showing up to sessions and voting for absent lawmakers. Additionally, he wants to limit the number of draft laws one faction can submit.
“It is very important for us to have a big, coordinated team aimed at results,” he said.
Mykhailo Fyodorov, 28, had never imagined becoming a lawmaker. Some seven months ago, he joined Zelensky’s grassroots campaign as the mastermind behind his digital strategy. His savvy social media campaign helped the comedic actor win the presidency, and Fyodorov became Zelensky’s adviser.
Being in parliament “hasn’t been my goal and it still isn’t,” he told the Kyiv Post. “I don’t want to comment on that because I might not become a lawmaker. But there surely will be a parliamentary committee on digital policy.”
The digital policy committee will also include at least two other newly-elected lawmakers: Oleksandr Kubrakov, 37, and Yehor Chernev, 34. Both come from the IT and tech industry and have never been in politics. The committee will work to reduce the digital gap between cities and villages, create opportunities for tech companies, and build the e-governance project “state in the smartphone,” which will provide most state services online.
Many of the newly elected lawmakers on Servant of the People’s list first made contact with Zelensky as expert consultants. During his presidential campaign, the future president held meetings with experts in various spheres, who then shaped his policy.
Read more: What we know about people Zelensky will take to next parliament
Anastasia Krasnosilska, a former board member of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, will be involved in crafting anti-graft legislation. She was elected as No. 8 on the party ticket.
She said that being elected to parliament was never her goal.
“For me, it’s not about personal ambition, but results. I see here a huge window of opportunity. I see what can be done in a relatively short period of time,” she told Kyiv Post. “In the anti-corruption sphere, we aim to adopt all pending anti-corruption laws in the first half-year.”
She said the top priorities to fight graft are ending lawmaker immunity, relaunching the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, re-criminalizing illicit enrichment, and granting the High Anti-Corruption Court jurisdiction over the biggest corruption cases.
