With his party in majority control of parliament following a second landslide election victory in four months, the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, now has unprecedented freedom to deliver the changes he promised. The most important of these is his signature pledge to give Ukrainians “a life without corruption, without bribes”.
A series of new initiatives to crack down on low-level graft is planned, including a shift to e-government and a bonfire of petty regulations that allow officials to demand bribes for the provision of basic services. These have long been the bane of Ukrainian life and a serious impediment to entrepreneurship, so radical measures could transform the everyday experience of voters. It’s in regard to the top end of Ukrainian society that the sincerity of Zelensky’s pledge to put an end to corruption has to be questioned.
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