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TV comic takes lead in Ukraine election first round
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has 30.4% of vote, beating Petro Poroshenko and ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko
Polls in Ukraine closed on Sunday evening with actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy expected to hold a commanding lead in the first round of the country’s presidential elections.
An exit poll run by a number of Ukraine’s leading polling agencies showed Zelenskiy leading with 30.4% of the vote. The current president, Petro Poroshenko, took second place with 17.8% of the vote, and Yulia Tymoshenko secured third place with 14.2% of the vote.
But official results will only likely be made public late on Sunday or early on Monday morning.
With no one expected to secure a majority, a runoff with the leading two candidates will be held on 21 April.
As the results of exit polling were announced, a cheer erupted at Zelenskiy’s headquarters in a sleek lounge in Kyiv. The candidate was mobbed as he made his way to a stage to say thank you to his supporters.
The vote could see a comedy actor with no political experience move a step closer to becoming the country’s next president.
Zelenskiy, who plays the president in the television series Servant of the People, is expected to win Sunday’s vote in a rebuke of the country’s leadership.
He is up against Poroshenko, the incumbent who made a fortune from his chocolate empire, and Tymoshenko, the former prime minister running as an anti-corruption firebrand.
As Sunday’s exit polls were released, Poroshenko and Zelenskiy’s campaigns quickly went on the attack.
“I am going to destroy him,” Mikhail Fyodorov, Zelenskiy’s head of digital strategy, said of Poroshenko. “He’s a marauder.”
Poroshenko, speaking to supporters in Kyiv, said that he understood from the polls that Ukrainians were frustrated but called on them not to support Zelenskiy.
“Fate has pitted me against Kolomoisky’s puppet,” declared Poroshenko, referring to a Ukrainian oligarch who has business dealings with Zelenskiy. “And we won’t give Kolomoisky a single chance.”
Tymoshenko released some exit polls that showed she had taken second place and called on her supporters to be vigilant against voter fraud. “I call not to accept exit polls as the final truth,” Tymoshenko said, saying the polls had been “manipulated”.
“I ask you to go to the polling stations and defend the result down to the last one ... Fighting for each protocol,” said Tymoshenko.
Polling stations across the country had opened at 8am, sometimes with spreads of ham and cheese laid out for voters. Some of the people manning the polls began the day with rousing renditions of the national anthem while other Ukrainians congratulated each other about the “holiday of democracy”.
The Guardian