Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyh’s May 20 press conference showed that he doesn’t understand how the state and democracy work.
Zelensky’s press conference on the anniversary of his inauguration had significant resonance. Despite the declared openness and full media coverage of the event, the current president has made it clear that he does not need journalists as intermediaries in communicating with society.
Zelensky prefers a so-called “warm bath” – edited recordings of video appeals and films of his own production. The groundbreaking press marathon was held only once last autumn. Even then, it raised many questions about the extent to which a person holding the highest position in a country of 40 million understands where he is and, most importantly, why is he actually there.
Some justified it with the fact that Zelensky is “learning” how to govern. He learns, first of all, to inform society about his own vision of where the state is heading with him as a president. Thus it leaves out the adequacy of such an approach when one elects a head of state for the country currently in war and let him/her learn while being at this position. Unfortunately, we come to a disappointing conclusion, the problem is not in communications, it is in the fact that after a year in office, Zelensky has not understood how democracy works.
I call the current regime in Ukraine – “uncertain authoritarianism.” Zelensky is clearly in favor of a more authoritarian model of government, he just does not understand how to put it into practice. He does not value democratic institutions, regulations, and procedures. First of all, because the president is a supporter of the primitive method of “manual control.”
One dispute during the press conference highlighted that quite well. The journalist pointed out that during the year Zelensky brought to power several dozen of his former colleagues from the “Kvartal 95” TV show, doing so not on the merit of their professionalism. To which Zelensky responded that there is a “shortage of staff” in the country and offered the journalist to take any position in the President’s Office.
No competitive selections, no criteria of professionalism, no procedures were mentioned. Zelensky is ready to appoint and dismiss people at his own discretion. What matters to him is the person in the office, not the position itself. No systematic work is important, but the compliance of the results with his own expectations.
The recent scandalous high-profile dismissals of the government officials, ministers, the prosecutor general, the heads of customs and tax office are to be mentioned here. It was not clear by what criteria people were elected to positions, what tasks were set to them, no reports on the results of the work were heard. What kind of institutional development can we talk about when a key person can be fired at any time for contrived reasons? It doesn’t matter how successful you are in your task. The main criterion for success is personal loyalty to the “greatest leader.”
The situation with the parliament is pretty similar. Zelensky behaves and communicates as if the disputes of his faction and opposition factions are completely de-subjectified. He can dissolve parliament with a wave of his hand. Can pass any law. He may call a new election if the deputies stop “obeying” him. This is not Lenin’s “democratic centralism.” This is an absolutely Stalinist approach to the role and functions of parliament. Ironically, his faction is called by the Stalinist term “servant of the people.”
Relations with local self-government are also “simple” for Zelensky. Who does not agree to comply with his decision, automatically goes to the category of “bandit” and “robber.” Just as it happened to the mayor of Cherkasy. Such tactics were well worked out by undemocratic regimes. Opponents of the government are demonized and removed from the legal field. Accordingly, there is no point in choosing legal methods to resolve the conflict with them. You can send “greetings” and promise “consequences” in video appeals.
The key indicator of decision-making for Zelensky is not efficiency, not being strategic and realistic, but the rise or fall of his rating. He will continue to do his best to demonstrate “sacrifice” for the people in the fight against “bad officials.” By the way, the exclusive right to speak directly on behalf of the people is a key element of populism, unlike just any demagoguery, as it is often understood by in our country.
For Zelensky, personal rating gives grounds for the realization of the abstract “will of the people” directly through their own actions and decisions and without intermediaries in the form of institutions of parliamentary democracy.
Zelensky and his team continue to live in the paradigm of the 2019 election campaign. Two huge letters “Ze!” behind the president back are the confirmation. By such actions Zelensky is already multiplying and will multiply chaos and disintegration in the state apparatus. The main thing is to find the enemy and “fight” him. They are being destructive, not constructive at all.
Thus, after a year as president in a parliamentary-presidential republic, it is still unclear to Zelensky how democracy works and what it is for. He focuses on the short-term results, which are set with his own criteria. Zelensky does not have a strategic vision of the country’s development and is unable to establish systematic work. He sees the solution not in building effective institutions, but in “personnel roulette” and “people’s support.”
Zelensky’s consciousness remains at the level of “good authoritarianism” based on the model from the TV series “Servant of the People.”
Although it may sound hackneyed, his words and actions confirm this thesis. Such a regime, reinforced by the image of neighboring Belarus, is indeed favorably viewed by a large part of post-totalitarian Ukrainian society. The only point that keeps Zelensky from wanting to completely usurp power is his lack of understanding of how the state works. That is why I call the regime that the current government is building in Ukraine – “uncertain authoritarianism.”
Every force committed to the democratic path of Ukraine’s development must do its best to ensure that the regime mentioned above does not gain “confidence.” First of all, by combating the manifestations of undemocratic approaches in those areas that are available to you. Protest against illegal cases against the opposition and volunteers, do the parliamentary work, provide alternative information, vote in local elections. The current government does not see any sense in a democracy. Democracy must show that it is ready to defend itself.
Oleksiy Goncharenko is a Ukrainian lawmaker with the European Solidarity party.
