The comedian or the chocolate maker | Today, Ukraine chooses …

From Kiev

On Wednesday night, tens of millions of Ukrainians turned on the television to take a look at their political future. The premiere of the third series of the comedy drama, Servant of the People, immediately featured recognizable faces.

There was "Dmitry Surikov", a cynical and clever president of the milk baron (read: President Petro Poroshenko, known as the chocolate baron of Ukraine). There was "Jeanne of Borisenko", a manipulative operator who was afraid of running out of time to become president (read: The Ukrainian Joan of Arc, Yulia Tymoshenko, trying for the third time to become president). And there was "Vasily Goloborodko", professor became president and man of the people, played by none other than the comedian and favorite of the presidency in real life, Volodymyr Zelensky.

But there seems to be much more in the recent Zelensky TV series than mere jokes. Blurring the political reality with dramatic fictions, he proposes a new plan on how to get involved and influence voters in the after-truth world.

Zelensky's candidacy is far from the first time a showman uses his popularity to get into politics. From the beginning, the international media have linked the obvious points between Zelensky and Donald Trump. After all, both men came out of a wave of disappointment and anti-political politicians. Zelensky, for one, prefers to talk about Ronald Reagan. But his candidacy far exceeds the postmodernity of all American artists. Perhaps more than any presidential candidate in history, it was impossible to differentiate the man from the mask, the character of the candidate and the elector of the viewer. His team, for example, has mocked the idea of ​​a traditional election campaign, preferring to organize free "concerts".

There was very little political discussion. And the other two main candidates were even less willing to talk to independent journalists. But without a long political history, you have to work hard to understand what Zelensky really means. And the merging of man and mask also allowed the candidate to evade responsibility for his remarks. You never know exactly where the Goloborodko character ends and the candidate Zelensky begins.

The genius of the Zelensky campaign, and what sets it apart from Trump elsewhere, is that his character candidate is basically a good, unifying and moderate position. In the polarized and militarized media space of Ukraine, the moderate terrain is generally uncrowded, and Zelensky-Goloborodko strives to fill this void.

The character of the president is therefore an ordinary type who fights against corruption. He defends the position that Ukraine has two languages, but that Ukrainian remains the language of the state. He is with the Russians, but against Putin. He is in favor of paying a pension to impoverished pensioners who remained in the conflict zones of eastern Ukraine. And he takes an eminently reasonable stance on the Crimea, admitting the evidence: that it will not be returned to Ukraine as long as Vladimir Putin remains in power.

Today, Zelensky will offer his various personalities to the Ukrainian electorate for what promises to be the least predictable election of this generation. On the one hand, the vote will constitute a historical test after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine: if voters are satisfied with the badessment of Poroshenko; if they are dissatisfied with the increase in the price of public services or are worried about who will best defend the country. But it also promises to be a battle between two voter manipulation systems, old and new.

According to the local media, the president's defense team has resorted to many clbadic schemes: dealing with militaristic threats; electoral alliances with regional sponsors; provide pensions on the eve of elections; and seek to limit the participation of those who probably do not vote, including the threatening presence of army recruiting officers in polling stations to discourage youth suffrage.

One of the last polls published before the elections suggested that the president's tactics had been somewhat successful. According to these figures, Poroshenko is in line to secure a solid second place with 22.1% of the vote, against 24.1% for Zelensky.

It remains to be seen if the victory of run over in the home stretch. On the other hand, if Zelensky wins, it is possible that this election is in the process of writing a new page not only in Ukraine but in the history of the world.

* Of the independent of Great Britain. Special for PageI12.

Translation: Celita Doyhambéhère.