A young woman is standing on the Independence Square in Kiev and remembers. „This mood that we now see in society is the result of the Maidan’s biggest failure,“ says Olena Halushka, anti-corruption activist and one of the most recognizable faces of the 2013 Uprising. „We have no functioning judiciary Reasons why the society chose so The first round was clearly a protest election. “
The Maidan protesters demanded justice, equality and dignity at the time, she says. But hardly any judge who illegally persecuted them was brought to justice, hardly anyone had been dismissed.
Fight against corruption stops
For the 30-year-old economist, the glass is at the same time half empty and half full: on the one hand, it sees a tremendous progress that the country has made over the past five years. The old elite can no longer conceal their scams, everything is now transparent, all data and registers now accessible. But the final consequence was missing: Corruptionaires are often not held responsible by the judiciary.
Haluschka has documented the cases of 55 anti-corruption activists who have been threatened and attacked. Among them is the story of a young woman who died as a result of a brutal acid attack – the alleged patrons of the murder are still not prosecuted.
She wishes the new president to maintain Ukraine’s pro-European course: „That’s exactly what our civilian choice on the Maidan has been, and this is what our army is defending against Russia in the war. on the front against corruption and for reforms. “
„Everyone wants change“
The newcomer Vladimir Selensky has very different voters: young Ukrainians who hate traditional politics, pro-European liberals or pro-Russian voters in the East – and all those who are frustrated over President Petro Poroshenko’s lack of reforms. At the same time, what we know about its goals is not unlike Poroshenko’s program.
The war in the East has claimed thousands of deaths so far, and millions of people have fled. In the village Krymske, which is located directly at the front, the mood for Selensky seems to tend. The weapons have never been silent on the border with the „Lugansk People’s Republic“, the Russia-controlled separatist republic.
„Everyone wants change,“ says pharmacist Tatyana Anatolyevna. „But nothing happened for five years, they’re still shooting, we need peace.“ Does not someone with experience have to rule the country during the war? „We experienced the experienced,“ adds a villager. „Let’s do it the other one, I think Selensky can do it!“
Russia does not want to talk yet
The „new“ speaks mostly Russian, in his campaign, he focused not so much as Poroshenko on patriotism and war. And he repeatedly declares that he wants to end the war – for example through direct talks with Russia, which the Kremlin has promptly rejected. For Selensky’s team is also clear: Crimea belongs to Ukraine, Russia must pay Kiev for the occupation of the peninsula compensation.
In each age group and in each region leads the lawyer and charismatic actor, on whom the voters project all sorts of hopes. Also in western Ukraine. In the Transcarpathian town of Uzhgorod, very close to the EU, the family of restaurant operator Yuri Rusak longs for a life as with the neighbors – but is also worried about the future of the country.
Can Selensky break the power of the oligarchs?
The newly created army under Poroshenko and the EU visa-free regime for Ukrainians Rusak the incumbent to high: „I feel a lot freer in everyday life and I see the results of the reforms.“ An inexperienced newcomer is a risk, says his nephew Michaylo Horoschek. „Everyone knows that there is a lot of corruption here, many millionaires and billionaires, but it may be that Poroshenko did not really have the chance to fight it.“
„The end of the epoch of lies, the end of the epoch of poverty“ – that is the simple slogan of the favorite. Only: Will an actor be able to dissolve the web of interests and enrichments? And is not the newcomer himself the product of an oligarch whose TV channel he is happy to mix with comedy and election campaigns, in prime time? Questions that Ukrainians are allowed to ask at least Monday.
