Ukrainians vote in presidential election

Kiev: Ukrainians voted on Sunday in the first round of the country’s presidential election, with incumbent leader Peter Petro Poroshenko seeking re-election and a surprise front-runner, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy. If no candidate gets more than 50 per cent on Sunday, the top two will fight it out in a second round on April 21, the BBC reported. Besides Poroshenko and Zelenskiy, the third important face in the election is former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. A total of 39 candidates are in the fray, but only the three front-runners are considered to have any chance of victory. More than 34 million citizens are eligible to vote in nearly 30,000 polling stations, which opened at 8 a.m. Voting will end at 8 p.m.

First results of the exit polls will be announced as soon as the voting closes. Vote counting will begin at 10 p.m. The Central Election Commission of Ukraine is expected to release primary official results on Monday morning. The top three candidates have expressed largely pro-European views during campaigning. None of the pro-Russian candidates were being seen as serious contenders. Poroshenko, 53, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarchs, was elected in a snap vote after former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in the February 2014 Maidan Revolution, which was followed by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and insurgency in eastern Ukraine. (IANS)

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