Actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy was on Monday sworn in as Ukraine’s new president, weeks after he defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko in national elections, AP reported.
He announced after taking charge that he was dissolving Parliament and called snap elections, Reuters reported. The country elects its president and Parliament separately. A snap election is likely to favour Zelenskiy’s new party in the Parliament as well.
Zelenskiy said the first task was to achieve a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine but added that dialogue with Russia could only happen after it returns Ukrainian territory and prisoners of war.
In the ceremony held at Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on Monday morning, Zelenskiy was seen giving high-fives to spectators and even stopped to take a selfie with one of them.
Zelensky, a 41-year-old TV star with no political track record, won 73% of the vote in the runoff election. He is best known for starring in TV series Servant of the People, in which his character, a teacher, is unexpectedly elected to the presidency.
Petro Poroshenko, who was running for his second five-year term, received just 25% of the votes.
“To all Ukrainians, no matter where you are, I promise that I will never let you down,” Zelensky had said after the results were announced.
He takes charge at a time when the country faces numerous challenges, including a struggling economy and an ongoing war against Russia-backed separatist forces in the east that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
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