“I have been asked for a long time: ‘Are you going to go or not?’ And you know, unlike our great politicians, I didn’t want to make empty promises to you. And now, a few minutes before the New Year, I’m going to promise you something. And I’m going to do it right now. Dear Ukrainians, I promise to run for the presidency of Ukraine. And I’m doing it right away: I’m running for the Ukrainian presidential election. We’ll do it together. Happy New Year with a new servant of the people.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, comedian, comedian, director… and above all star of the TV series servant of the people, in which he plays a history teacher who has become president, launches this December 31, 2018 in the presidential race. His success has given him wings: he is moving from fiction to reality. His campaign is launched and it is unlike any other. On stage, as a showman, the candidate says to the public who came to support him: “I would like to point out one thing: this is a show, not a campaign meeting. After all, you paid for your tickets… No? A paying political meeting does not exist!”
“Here is a guy who is not like the others”
The director François Margolin, whose family fled Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century because of the pogroms, met a few days before the first round of the election the man who today embodies resistance to the invasion of the launched on February 24, 2022 at dawn by Vladimir Putin. “In the ice rink converted into a performance hall, there are 6,000 to 7,000 people hysterical with joy. And when I see Zelensky on stage, I tell myself that I am going to make a film about him. It makes me want to meet him and hang out with him. I’m like, ‘There’s a guy like no other.'” he tells the magazine “1:15 p.m. on Sunday” (replay).
Did it look like an election campaign? “No, not at all. He did not campaign for election. He toured like a singer, a show host, like Patrick Sébastien, recalls François Margolin. And at the end of his show, he says, ”It’s Friday night, the election is Sunday. Don’t forget to go and vote…’ It’s the symbol of a country that has changed a lot, today turned towards Europe, of an open, modern Ukraine, which no longer has anything to do with what was the soviet era…” Volodymyr Zelensky was elected on April 21, 2019, against outgoing head of state Petro Poroshenko, with 73.2% of the vote.
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