The mess that is Ukraine's government

Volodymyr Zelensky is famous in Ukraine. He stars in a popular TV series, "Servant of the People," in which he plays a history teacher who is elected president after his rant about government corruption goes viral.
While he plays a president on TV, he has no actual political experience.

In real life, Zelensky may be about to be elected President of Ukraine.

A survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of sociology (KIIS) showed the 41-year-old Zelenskiy, a political novice, had the support of 15.4 percent of voters. Incumbent Petro Poroshenko had the support of 10.5 percent and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko had 8 percent.

The election takes place on March 31, with 44 candidates set to compete. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, as polls predict, the top two candidates would face each other in a run-off on April 21.

How does that saying go? Life imitating art?

Now some will point out that the sitting president is not that far behind. But that was two days ago. A lot can happen in two days.

Politicians in Ukraine say impeachment proceedings have been launched against President Petro Poroshenko following a media expose linking him to a corruption scandal that involves Russia.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is a frontrunner for next month's presidential election, made the announcement in Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on Tuesday, saying the president had committed "high treason."
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Tymoshenko's move was triggered by an expose released on Monday by BIHUS.info, a Ukrainian investigative organisation focused on anti-corruption, which linked Poroshenko to a money laundering and smuggling scandal involving Ukrainian officials and Russia.

The report, which can be viewed with English subtitles below, says high-level Ukrainian defence officials received "kickbacks" for smuggling spare parts of military equipment from Russia at inflated prices.

I guess Poroshenko won't be around for the election.
It's especially ironic that he conspired with Russia, after being the biggest warmonger in the Ukraine government. Recall that he wanted martial law in all of Ukraine until after the election.

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Pricknick's picture

what the buffoons we have for a government would say if Putin decided to bypass the Ukraine (who still owes for previous deliveries) and cut them off. The new pipelines will enable that in short order.
Nah. Just kidding. They'd bitch like banshees.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

a lot of people that could be considered(fairly or not)"joke" candidates are having a lot of electoral success in Europe(e.g. Pirate party, the comedian who became President of Iceland, etc.)
Admittedly I haven't been paying a lot of attention but I'm not entirely sure if this is because they are so much better than the "serious" candidates or that the "serious" candidates are so much worse.

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

Hawkfish's picture

@Johnny Q

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

Amanda Matthews's picture

@Johnny Q
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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa