Comedian Zelensky heading to win Ukrainian presidential election

 Volodymyr Zelensky

KIEV, April 2. /TASS/. Comedian and leader of the Servant of the People political party Vladimir Zelensky leads the Ukrainian presidential race with 30.26% of the vote, almost double the number of incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko, who secured 15.92%, with 97.77% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said.

According to the CEC, the leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Timoshenko comes in third with 13.38%, followed by Yuri Boyko, candidate from the Opposition Platform - For Life party, with 11.66%. Head of the Civil Position party Anatoly Gritsenko took fourth place with 6.92%.

A total of 100% of ballots have been counted only in the Poltavskaya Region. The CEC also announced that 1.18% of ballots were invalid.

On March 31, Ukraine held the first round of the presidential election. The final voter turnout went as high as 62.8%. However, out of 29.6mln Ukrainians on the voter lists just 18.8mln people received their ballot papers. The lowest turnout was seen in the Zakarpatskay Region, in Ukraine’s southwest, while the most active regions were Lvov and Volyn in the country’s west.