- Title: Vote count confirms comic's lead in Ukraine elections
- Date: 1st April 2019
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (APRIL 1, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SCREENS SHOWING UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND COMEDIAN VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY LEADING, FOLLOWED BY INCUMBENT PETRO POROSHENKO AND YULIA TYMOSHENKO NEWS CONFERENCE BY MEMBERS OF CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION OF UKRAINE (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) HEAD OF CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION OF UKRAINE, TETYANA SLIPACHUK, SAYING: "This
- Embargoed: 15th April 2019 10:22
- Keywords: presidential election Petro Poroshenko Volodymyr Zelenskiy run-off Central Election Commission results
- Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
- City: KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001A8MOI87
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A comedian with no political experience raced ahead in the first round of Ukraine's presidential election on Sunday (March 31), offering a fresh face to voters fed up with entrenched corruption in a country on the frontline of the West's standoff with Russia.
With over half of all ballots counted by Monday (April 1) morning, 41-year-old Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, held a comfortable lead over incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a vote deemed largely free and fair by the national electoral commission.
A crowded field of 39 candidates has now shrunk to just two, with Zelenskiy and Poroshenko set to go head-to-head in a second round run-off on April 21.
Propelled by his anti-establishment appeal, newcomer Zelenskiy must convince voters he is fit to lead a country that has been at war ever since protests in 2014 ejected a pro-Kremlin government and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
He has been criticised for being an unknown quantity and light on policy detail, and his victory speech on Sunday provided little further insight into what he would do if handed the top job in the second round vote.
(Production: Dato Chkhikvishvili, Margaryta Chornokondratenko) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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