Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday won the first round of the presidential ballot in Ukraine, with incumbent President Petro Poroshenko coming second.
COMEDIAN AT THE FRONT ROW
According to the first exit poll, Zelensky got 30.4 percent and Poroshenko 17.8 percent of the vote. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko won 14.2 percent. Sunday’s ballot closed in Ukraine at 8 p.m. local time (1700GMT).
If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the election will go for a second round to be held on April 21.
Voting could not be held in the Donbass and Crimea regions in the east and south of the country.
Ukraine’s political and economic woes escalated when Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and a separatist movement erupted in Donbass. Sunday’s presidential election is the second since 2013 demonstrations were followed by a pro-Western administration taking power in Ukraine.