Surveys make Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays a fictitious president in a TV series, the runaway favourite to defeat incumbent president Petro Poroshenko
Ukrainian comedian and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky shows his ballot to the media at a polling station during the second round of Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev on April 21, 2019.Ukrainians voted on Sunday in an election expected to thrust a comedian with no prior political experience and few detailed policies into the presidency of a nation at war and hungry for change.
But a victory for Zelenskiy would be a dramatic departure for a country whose previous presidents since its 1991 independence have been experienced politicians, including three former prime ministers.Investors are seeking reassurances that whoever wins will accelerate reforms needed to attract foreign investment and keep the country in an International Monetary Fund programme that has supported Ukraine through war, recession and a currency plunge.
Poroshenko meanwhile attended an Orthodox service at Kiev’s gold-domed St Michael’s monastery, a member of a new national church that Poroshenko helped establish.“It is very important to be guided by reason during the vote. Because it’s not funny. At first maybe it seems funny and fun, but it should not be painful later,” he said after voting.
His campaign relied on quirky social media posts and comedy gigs instead of traditional rallies and leafletting. Just 9 percent of Ukrainians have confidence in their national government, the lowest of any electorate in the world, according to a Gallup poll published in March. Meanwhile, Zelenskiy remains something of an unknown quantity and faces scrutiny over his ties to a powerful oligarch called Ihor Kolomoisky, whose TV channel broadcasts his shows.
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