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.
Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko trailed behind in third with 13 percent support.
The strong showing for the 41-year-old Zelenskiy reflects the public longing for a fresh leader who has no links to Ukraine’s corruption-ridden political elite and can offer a new approach to settling the grinding five-year conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has left 13,000 dead since 2014.
“This is only the first step toward a great victory,” Zelenskiy said.
The top two candidates advance to a runoff on April 21. Final results are expected to be announced later Monday.
Zelenskiy dismissed suggestions that he could pool forces with Tymoshenko to get the backing of her voters in the second round in exchange for forming a coalition following parliamentary elections in the fall.
“We aren’t making any deals with anyone,” he said. “We are young people. We don’t want to see all the past in our future, the future of our country.”
Like the character he plays in a TV sitcom, a schoolteacher-turned-president, Zelenskiy made fighting corruption a focus of his candidacy. He proposed a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of graft. He also called for direct negotiations with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The election was marred by allegations of widespread vote buying. Police said they had received more than 2,100 complaints of violations on voting day alone in addition to hundreds of earlier voting fraud claims, including bribery attempts and removing ballots from polling places.
Zelenskiy’s headquarters alleged multiple voting and other cheating on the part of Poroshenko’s campaign, but election officials said the vote took place without significant violations.
“No systematic violations took place on either the election day or the night following the election when votes were being counted at the local polling stations,” said Central Election Commission head Tetyana Slipachuk.
Poroshenko looked somber as the votes came in, but visibly relieved about surpassing Tymoshenko to advance to the runoff...
