Ukrainians will not vote ‘old guard’ back in after Zelenskyy, analyst suggests

“Zelensky must understand that the search for his replacement is not among the old candidates, not among that political column,” Hryniv said.

“Above all, society expects, on the one hand, a continuation of change. Polls, and not only polls, and events at the cardboard Maidan showed that there is a huge demand for change. Society has not stopped and is not saying the experiment with change failed and we should return to an old system or old people for the sake of stability. No — society wants change.”

Hryniv said voters are increasingly focused on candidates’ personal achievements and records rather than on those who are prone to make unrealistic promises in exchange for votes.

“Today there again is a very strong demand for military figures or people with experience in defense and national security,” he said.

“There is a large demand for people with professional training — not necessarily military — but personal success, people must be sufficiently professionally prepared. This is new.”

Hryniv said this shift appears clearly in focus groups asked to describe an ideal president.

“If previously requests were mostly populist and empathy-based — people liked a candidate, trusted him, believed him, or he spoke well and looked good — today there is a very strong demand for what professional experience this person has and how much of a professional they are mainly in what is most needed: to protect them from war and Russian aggression,” he said.