Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Karadeniz Araştırmaları, cilt.17, sa.67, ss.581-603, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)
In April 2019, Ukrainians elected actor and showman Volodymyr Zelensky as their president.Zelensky was more than unexpected choice for the country that wages a war with its neighbor.This article concentrates on the two rounds of 2019 presidential election. The author discusseselection results, factors of electoral behavior, regional voting patterns, role of oligarchs, stance ofRussia and role of the virtual space in the election. It is argued that in Ukraine, citizens chose aperson without political experience hoping for a change. While one can note presence of theregular elections and changes in the leadership in Ukraine, democratic principles and procedureshave not institutionalized yet. Thus, oligarchs still back the candidates. At the same time,traditional regional voting patterns are deteriorating while the role of youth is growing andparticularly this is possible due to the spread of the social media. The author analyzes three groupsof sources. First, the election results are studied to reveal public support for different candidatesand regional voting in Ukraine. Second, data related to electoral race including party programs,surveys about public support for the candidates and debates are examined. Finally, officialdocuments indicating policies of the Ukrainian presidents are analyzed.