(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s parliament is set for a major shake-up.
Elections have been confirmed for next month and one thing looks certain: the legislature will get an influx of new faces, many of whom are arriving free from political baggage and without experience.
The trend was set by Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who this year swapped being the country’s most-watched comedian for being its president. His rapid rise, driven by anger that too little had improved under the old guard -- particularly on corruption -- is playing out again.
The president’s fledgling party, named Servant of the People after his hit TV show, is way ahead in polls. He’s insisted that his candidates for parliament don’t have political backgrounds, stacking his party list with activists and businessmen.
Then there’s another new party created by another entertainer. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Ukraine’s most popular rock singer, has propelled his Holos party into third place in one survey, echoing some of Zelenskiy’s calls to clean up politics that have for years been dogged by graft.
Elsewhere, the previously marginal Strength and Honor is appealing to backers of the military and is well positioned to clear the 5% entry barrier into parliament.
The time is ripe for candidates “who aren’t related to political figures that have lost credibility among voters,” said Volodymyr Paniotto, head of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
On the flip side of that coin, times are tough for political mainstays like former President Petro Poroshenko and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose parties are losing support and are hovering near or even below the threshold to make it back into parliament.
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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