KIEV, Ukraine — Like many Ukrainians, I have always limited my participation in this country's democratic process to casting my own ballot in presidential elections. As a result of this behavior and that of my fellow compatriots, we have often chosen poor candidates for the presidency.

The conviction of Paul Manafort , the 2016 U.S. GOP presidential campaign chairman, has shone an ugly spotlight on the endemic corruption of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's government while simultaneously revealing the pro-Russian geopolitical agenda which turned Ukraine in to a quasi-democratic kleptocracy. The picture that has emerged from Washington, D.C., depicts Ukraine as a Eurasian banana republic, where autocracy – and not democracy – has persistently prevailed.

As campaigning begins for the 2019 presidential election, Ukrainians must acknowledge the mistakes of the past, and choose their candidate for the presidency more carefully than before. The 2019 race will be more than the most important test for Ukrainian democracy in the more than 27 years since independence from the Soviet Union. For our Western allies, Ukraine's 2019 election will likely constitute the most important democratic test for Europe, and Euro-Atlantic values, in the first 20 years of the 21st century.

While my fellow Ukrainians are understandably reticent about political involvement after enduring nearly three decades of public life tainted by corruption, in 2019 we must show our personal agency and responsibility. We can do that by evaluating each candidate closely and deciding who truly represents the approach needed to build a European Ukraine. Given Russia's highly aggressive agenda, it is not hyperbole to state that our nation's fate depends upon it.

Poverty, apathy and continuity in Ukraine's political class has naturally led many Ukrainians – especially younger voters – to withdraw from the democratic process. We must act decisively to re-engage at least 20 million voters who are disillusioned by the status quo. Our territorial and political independence are under constant threat, and unlike previous elections, 2019 will prove to be much more than a pseudo-political television show.

As we begin our transition from quasi-pluralism to bona fide European democracy, I remind this vital generation of voters that specific qualities – and actions, rather than words – are required from them and from any future president.

In a nation where politics has been almost completely bereft of both manifestos and morality for almost three decades, young voters must consider the moral qualities, political knowledge, economic expertise and diplomatic experience which they expect from their president, before they vote on March 31, 2019.

It is crucial to remember that unlike conventional democracies, where decisions are made by three branches of government, Ukraine has effectively functioned with two additional quasi-branches of shadow government, as Paul Manafort's indictment reveals.

Those branches were painfully visible to many Ukrainians for decades, yet largely unreported and unacknowledged in the West until the 2014 revolution and the subsequent fall of Yanukovych. Ukraine's "fourth" de-facto branch of government has always been the country's oligarchs. As trial exhibits and juror questionnaires from Manafort's trial and plea bargain reveal, Ukraine's oligarchs have long controlled the country's members of Parliament, government ministries, mayoral seats and elected positions in local government.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's "fifth" branch of political power comprises foreign actors who excerpt varying levels of control over our democracy. Prior to 2014, Russia was a key player in its bilateral support for the Yanukovych government. While the United States, the European Union and financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund now exert a strong presence in Ukraine, Russia has yet to withdraw its influence on this country's domestic politics. Russia is still a branch of power in Ukraine – with its own members of Parliament, its own television channels, and, until recently, its own brand of religious soft power via the Orthodox Church.

The West's influence on Ukrainian authorities is thus weaker than it has been for several years. While our allies continue to excerpt soft power via the prosecution of minor corruption cases, Moscow's threat predominates and generally prevails.

Despite a list of more than 10 presidential contenders, opposition candidates in Ukraine have almost no chance of winning the 2019 election, a fact that exposes key flaws in our pluralistic system. Such candidates will never amass the 50 percent vote mandate required to win the 2019 election outright.

Ukraine has failed to build powerful public structures that support the plurality that our democracy needs, and has thus far failed to build a civil society capable of checking the power of the country's oligarchy. Opposition candidates cannot secure the campaign finance to compete meaningfully, and lack access to mass media channels – with the exception of the internet and social networks.

Unfortunately, internet penetration is thought to influence only 10 percent to 15 percent of voters. Moreover, the aftereffects left by Soviet propaganda has failed to create a culture where discerning readers can identify the false political messages that litter the internet.

The West must now understand that Russia has not, and will not, forget Ukraine. Numerous sources point to Russian support for presidential candidates, alongside pro-Russian political parties that will compete in Ukraine's 2019 parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, a strong Russian narrative in print, on television and online already serves to discredit Ukraine's respectable pro-European candidates.

The level of influence that Russia can excerpt on Ukraine's political process and on democratic systems in Western Europe and the United States has already been proven. Alleged interference in the U.K.'s Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S presidential campaign serve as clear warnings of Russia's agenda to our Euro-Atlantic partners. Yet they do not appear to be acknowledged as factors that will adversely affect the electoral system of Ukraine.

Ukraine is still waiting for its own Emmanuel Macron – the president of France and a modern technocratic reformer. Approximately 40 percent of this country's electorate is desperate to see a new face in this country's political elite. If we want such a figure in our political culture, 2019 must spark an intellectual change.

Until now, Ukrainians have voted solely with their ears and eyes – believing glossy television campaigns and grandiose promises from their prospective leaders, while forgetting to engage their brains. We need more support from Western nations and we urge them to acknowledge the extent to which Russia presents a clear danger. But the ultimate responsibility for democratic change – as Ukraine moves away from street revolutions past, toward European governance and institutional change – is the responsibility of our electorate.