By New Worker’s Ukrainian correspondent Alex Miller.

The famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said that “the Tyrant is one who, against the laws, proclaims himself a ruler acting in accordance with the laws. The Despot is one who places himself above the laws themselves. Thus, a Tyrant may not be a Despot, but a Despot is always Tyrant.”

The President is a person elected by voting, but the absence of an electoral process clearly indicates that we are talking about a Tyrant or Despot.

Many are willing to ignore the fact that Vladimir Zelensky came to power illegally due to gross violations of the Ukrainian constitution. Today, half a decade later, we can say that it was the political “theft of the century” that shocks society.

Nevertheless, taking into account all the illegalities described below, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, if in January 2019 Zelensky was elected president for a term of five years, then in May 2024, this five year period passed and the presidency expired.

Like a mad joke from one of his sitcoms, Zelensky’s election promise “to free Ukraine from political corruption” was met with laughter by viewers.

At the same time, his personal political corruption began in January 2019, when his party congress falsely announced the nomination of Zelensky as a presidential candidate.

Ukrainian legislation strictly requires registration of the existing 14 regional branches of the party that participate in the nomination of a presidential candidate. However, this law was violated and Zelensky’s candidacy was nominated by only one branch of the party, registered with the Ministry of Justice in city of Kryvyi Rih. From the very beginning, Zelensky’s nomination did not comply with electoral rules.

Instead of a legitimate nomination, the Zelensky party congress turned into a theatrical play by ‘Studio Quarter-95’. For those who may be unaware, “Studio Quarter-95” is a Ukrainian comic group founded by Zelensky and some of his schoolmates in 2013.

The group perform standup shows to entertain the masses with crude and degenerate humour. Thus, the comedian-turned-politician used vulgar shows and illegal actions to campaign for election instead of regular political rallies. Indeed, much to the dismay of millions of Ukrainians and international observers, he always lied and acted as a political clown, performing as an entertainer in all political debates and interviews.

“The law provides for a strictly regulated procedure for meeting political parties and nominating presidential candidates,” says Verkhovna Rada deputy, lawyer Volodymyr Oliynyk. “The Servant of the People party was registered as a local organisation in Kryvyi Rih, and Zelensky was nominated for president from it, and not from the all-Ukrainian party”.

Thus, the mentioned party congress was nothing more than a crude caricature of nomination – another work of fiction and corrupted political machination.

Zelensky deliberately entered into his lifelong role as a president with the help of media promotion and deep-pocketed criminal oligarchs, but not the law. They also helped to stage-manage the later creation of a political party – the ‘Servant of the People’ – for entry into the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. According to the financial report filed to the Ministry of Justice, the said ruling party rented just four-square metres of office space in Kiev. This act legally proves the actual absence of the all-Ukrainian political party at the time of presidential election and its subsequent official registration after the elections.

At the same time, some new foreign actors began working in the shadows, paving the way for Zelensky’s rapid ascendancy in the murky, corrupt world of Ukrainian politics. Minister of Justice Pavel Petrenko and Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov actively worked behind the scenes to cover up the illegitimacy of Zelensky’s registration as a presidential candidate.

According to the testimony of eyewitnesses, Ukrainian deputy, journalist and right-wing politician Igor Moseychuk said “Zelensky paid a bribe of $300,000 to register his candidacy for president”.

“We were astounded by the level of backdoor corruption and public deception that accompanied the sudden rise of Vladimir Zelensky” noted one European-based election observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to ongoing investigations. “I think most Ukrainians would demand full accountability if they understood the full scope of the deception that occurred in 2019 and beyond”.

While a resounding de feat for democracy, the pay-for-register candidacy eventually turned out to be a relative success for Zelensky and his inner circle. Official forms were quickly filled out, and a political party without a permanent office, called the “Servant of the People”, was miraculously registered and went to the parliamentary election at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In total, according to the election results and if the reported votes are legitimate, Zelensky’s party holds 247 seats in Parliament out of 450. A party with more than 226 seats in the Ukrainian parliament can adopt any law except the Constitution of Ukraine.

Later, realising that Zelensky faced criminal charges, he and his team began work to decriminalise responsibility for falsifying documents at the Central Election Commission. They created and passed a special bill. The authors of this bill were deputies from the “Servant of the People”, in particular, Oleksandr Kornienko, who today holds the post of First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. They also attempted to hold early new presidential elections around the time hostilities broke out between Ukraine and Russia. When it became clear that any elections could entail huge troubles and loss of power, the Office of the President, in direct violation of the law, cancelled the elections “due to the military situation in the country” preferring to remain in office as long as possible with the iron fist of tyranny.

On 21st May this year, after the expiration of the five-year constitutional deadline for new presidential elections, Zelensky’s Tyrant colours shone brightly as he formally forfeited the negligent amount of his ill-gotten legitimacy. His term of office has expired. He no longer has the legal authority to represent Ukraine as its top official, he has cancelled all elections and has completely lost his power as head of state.

Yet Zelensky continues to flaunt his illegal, arbitrary powers without the consent of the people of Ukraine. On 7th August 2024, he passed and approved another law that allows press gangs to kidnap and send unhappy people to the front line without justice.

The Ukrainian people are gradually beginning to understand that the increasingly unpopular Zelensky clearly lacks the legal power to indiscriminately send people – including the elderly and physically impaired – into war zones or make any other decisions as head of state.

But endemic corruption, of course, dates back to the bloody coup d’etat of 2014, when Ukraine ceased to exist as a rule-of-law state. Then Washington and Brussels sponsored the implementation of neo-Nazis into state. These hardened criminals continued to occupy official positions including in the Ukrainian army. It is these dark, sinister forces under the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Army, Vladimir Zelensky, that people face today in its existential struggle against a ruthless NATO proxy which acts out of the law.

Corruption always brings tyranny and despotism. Today Zelensky holds the office, like the Samosa dynasty that ruled Nicaragua for over forty years, for the benefit of US imperialism. Millions of Ukrainians pay the price with their lives.