Comedian with no political experience leads in Ukraine presidential election but falls short of absolute majority needed

Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives a thumbs up as he visits his campaign headquarters following a presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine.
REUTERS
Bonnie Christian31 March 2019

A comedian with no political experience held a comfortable lead in Ukraine’s presidential election, an exit poll suggested, but he fell well short of the absolute majority needed to win outright in the first round.

The poll said incumbent President Petro Poroshenko was in a distant second place, closely followed by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The election was shadowed by allegations of widespread vote buying. Police said they had received more than 1,600 complaints of violations on voting day alone in addition to hundreds of earlier voting fraud claims, including bribery attempts and removing ballots from polling places.

Mr Poroshenko said on Sunday the elections were free and satisfied international standards.

Incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko received 17.8 percent of the nationwide vote.
AP

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who stars in a TV sitcom about a teacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral, led the field of 39 candidates with 30.4 percent of the vote, according to the exit poll.

Mr Poroshenko tallied with 17.8 percent support and Ms Tymoshenko had 14.2 percent, it said.

The Kiev International Institute of Sociology and the Razumkov public opinion organisation’s poll claimed a margin of error of 2.5 percentage point

The top two candidates will face off in presidential runoff on April 21. Final results in Sunday's first round are expected to be announced Monday morning.

"Zelenskiy has shown us on the screen what a real president should be like," said voter Tatiana Zinchenko, 30, who cast her ballot for the comedian.

Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko leaves after casting her ballot at a polling station in Kiev.
EPA

"He showed what the state leader should aspire for - fight corruption by deeds, not words, help the poor, control the oligarchs."

Campaign issues in the country of 42 million included Ukraine's endemic corruption, its struggling economy and a seemingly intractable conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has killed 13,000 people since 2014.

Concern about the election's legitimacy have spiked in recent days after Ukraine's interior minister said his department was "showered" with hundreds of claims that supporters of Mr Poroshenko and Ms Tymoshenko had offered money in exchange for votes.

Like the popular character he plays, Mr Zelenskiy, 41, made corruption a focus of his candidacy. He proposed a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of graft. He also called for direct negotiations with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"A new life, a normal life is starting," Zelenskiy said after casting his ballot in Kiev. "A life without corruption, without bribes."

His lack of political experience helped his popularity with voters amid broad disillusionment with the country's political elite.

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