French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro are role models for the unexpected frontrunner in the race for Ukraine’s presidency, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who sees a kinship with them as bold newcomers to politics.
Zelenskiy, a comedian-turned-producer, doubled his support in opinion polls since announcing his bid on December 31. With his lead holding up ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, he says Bolsonaro has been an inspiration as he rushes to build out a team that may be in charge of running the country of 42 million people. The election is on March 31 and the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff if no candidate surpasses 50 percent.
