Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Early results Monday in Ukraine’s presidential election showed a comedian with no political experience maintaining his strong lead against the incumbent in the first round, setting the stage for a presidential runoff in three weeks.

With over 70 percent of the polling stations counted, Volodymyr Zelenskiy had 30 percent support in Sunday’s vote, while President Petro Poroshenko was a distant second with just over 16 percent.

KIEV, March 30. /TASS/. More than 1,500 international observers have arrived in Ukraine to monitor the presidential election that will be held on March 31, Spokesman for Ukrainian State Border Guard Service Oleg Slobodyan told Ukraine’s UNN news agency.

"As many as 76 observers have arrived over the past 24 hours. Currently, there are more than 1,500 official observers from 40 countries in Ukraine," he said.

31 Mar 2019; DW: Ukrainians were at the polls in presidential elections on Sunday, choosing from among 39 candidates, including a comedian, a chocolate manufacturer and a former prime minister.

If no candidate gets an absolute majority of votes on Sunday — something that seems likely given the results of pre-election surveys — a runoff between the top two will be held on April 21.

The frontrunners

KIEV, March 29. /TASS/. The Central Election Commission prohibited local election commissions to make any changes to the ballot papers, the Central Election Commission (CEC) press service reported on Friday.

The CEC stressed that after March 7 presidential candidates have no right to refuse to run for presidency. Thus, as of March 29 the Central Election Commission registered 39 candidates to the post of Ukrainian president who were included in the ballot paper for the March 31 election.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s interior minister has accused the incumbent president and a former premier of waging campaigns that involve bribing voters ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

In a statement issued late Thursday, Arsen Avakov said that his ministry is looking into hundreds of claims that campaigners for President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were offering money to voters who would promise to cast a ballot for their candidate.

KIEV, March 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 people died and more than 32,000 were infected in a major measles outbreak in Ukraine in the past three months, the country's Health Ministry said on Monday.

A total of 32,939 people, including 18,109 children, were infected from December 28, 2018 to March 12, 2019 by measles in Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.

16 Feb 2019; DW: Ukraine needs a leader who would drive the country's "transformation," Ukraine's presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko told DW in Munich. The former PM also slammed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as unnecessary.

With presidential elections in Ukraine coming up in March, the country is set to see changes at the top, Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko told DW on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

KIEV, February 13. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC) registered 90 observers from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to monitor the upcoming presidential election in the country at its meeting on Wednesday.

"Having considered the relevant request, the commission registered 90 official observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to monitor the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine," the commission’s press service said. There are no Russian nationals among them.

KIEV, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to ban Russian observers from monitoring Ukraine's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

The legislation was supported by 232 votes in favor, surpassing the minimum of 226 required, the parliament said in a statement on its website.

According to the explanatory note, the law was adopted to prevent "Russia's intervention in Ukraine's elections" and prevent "information attacks" aimed at distorting facts about the electoral process in Ukraine.

29 Jan 2019; DW: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced he will run for re-election this March. The incumbent has seen his popularity slide in recent years, but no other candidate has yet emerged with a definitive lead.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko launched his bid for re-election on Tuesday, five years after he first entered office in the wake of the "Euromaidan" protests.