KYIV, Jan 26 – Public support for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party has collapsed over the past three months amid delayed reforms and growing economic hardships in a country hit by the coronavirus pandemic, an opinion poll showed.

The Servant of the People party’s rating dropped to 11.2% in the poll released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on January 26, pushing once the most popular party to No. 4 spot in just three months.

The Servant of the People lost its No. 1 spot in November and has been losing ground rapidly ever since in development that will most likely have major political implications on the government’s policies.

Zelenskiy is already having difficulties in pushing important legislation through Parliament and the party’s weakening ratings will only exacerbate the trend.

“The popularity of President Zelenskiy, but also other Ukrainian top politicians, is collapsing,” Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said.

The pro-Russian opposition party, the Opposition Platform – For Life (OPFL), has strong support and maintained its top spot with 20.7% support, followed by former President Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity (15.3%) and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna (12.6%), according to the poll.

The lead by OPFL, a party that openly calls for closer ties with Moscow, is remarkable considering the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatist forces continue to fight pro-government troops for more than six years.

OPFL is believed to be benefiting from controlling at least three major television channels that have been acquired by loyal tycoons three years ago and use of these media and massive financial resources for waging political attacks on the government.

Smaller parties have also showed strength in the opinion polls by picking up disillusioned voters that had refused to support Zelenskiy’s party.

The Strength and Honor, led by Ihor Smeshko, a former chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, has support of 8.3%, followed by pro-Western Holos party (5.6%) and the Ukrainian Strategy (5.3%), which is led by former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman.

A party led by pro-Russian blogger Anatoliy Shariy would score 4.6%, followed by Udar party (4.4%) led by Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klichko and nationalist Svoboda party (3.8%) conclude the list of parties that have a chance to enter Parliament at next election in 2024. (tl/ez)