KIEV: Volodymyr Zelensky, a 41-year-old politically inexperienced comedian who is on track to become Ukraine’s next president, stirs strong feelings.
Supporters say he is the fresh face the country needs to clean up Ukrainian politics after a 2014 uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime. Critics fear that a Zelensky presidency could throw the country into turmoil. Here are four key questions about Zelensky’s extraordinary rise to political prominence: Zelensky – whose schoolteacher character in “Servant of the People” becomes president after an expletive-laden tirade goes viral – channels the protest votes.
The TV star has capitalized on Ukrainians’ despair over mainstream politics, war with Kremlin-backed rebels, poverty, and corruption.  “Essentially people are voting against (President Petro) Poroshenko and not for Zelensky,” said Oleksandr Paskhaver, a Ukrainian economist and former adviser to the president.
Poroshenko’s backers credit him with rebuilding the nation’s army, securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia and winning visa-free travel to Europe.  But critics say the 53-year-old has done too little to tackle graft, improve living standards or uphold the rule of law. Anti-corruption campaigners and other activists regularly suffer attacks.
Kateryna Gandzyuk, a 33-year-old anti-corruption activist, died last November, a few months after she had about a liter of acid poured on her by several attackers.