March 31, 2019

KIEV — Comedian Vladimir Zelenskiy thrashed incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election Sunday, setting the stage for a decisive run-off between the two in three weeks.

Zelenskiy, a political upstart who had never run for public office before, finished first with about 30 percent of the vote, followed by Poroshenko with 18 percent, according to exit polls. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko finished third with 14 percent. The rest of the vote was split among some three dozen other candidates.

Poroshenko described his second-place finish as a “hard lesson.” Zelenskiy told supporters he was “very happy,” but cautioned that the campaign wasn’t over. Turnout was high with 64 percent of eligible voters participating. Official preliminary results are expected on Monday.

Read more:

https://www.politico.eu/article/no-joke-comedian-vladimir-zelenskiy-to-win-first-round-in-ukraines-presidential-election-against-petro-poroshenko/