The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC) processed 99.99% of voting protocols in electronic format in Ukraine's presidential elections.

The data have been released on the website of the CEC, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to the results, Volodymyr Zelensky gets 30.24% of the vote, Petro Poroshenko – 15.95%, Yulia Tymoshenko – 13.4%, Yuriy Boiko – 11.67%, Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 6.91%, Ihor Smeshko - 6.04%, Oleh Liashko – 5.48%, Oleksandr Vilkul - 4.15%, Ruslan Koshulynsky — 1.62%.

Other candidates received less than 1% of the vote.

According to the latest data, a total of 18,893,393 people voted in the elections in Ukraine.

1.18% of ballots were invalidated across Ukraine.

The presidential elections in Ukraine took place on March 31. There were 39 candidates in a ballot paper.

According to the preliminary data, comic Volodymyr Zelensky and incumbent Head of State Petro Poroshenko make it to the runoff.

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A Ukrainian comedian, who is Jewish, was the top vote-getter in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, according to exit polls.

Exit polls on Sunday showed Volodymyr Zelensky with 30.4 percent of the vote.At least half of the vote is required to win. A run-off is scheduled for April 21.Zelensky will face either incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who is seeking a second term and is showing 17.8 percent in the exit poll, or former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko, who polled at 14.2 percent in the run-off, but is disputing the results.Timoshenko also is rumored to be Jewish.Zelensky, 41, whom the local media call “the Ukrainian Donald Trump,” portrays a history teacher turned president in his hit television show “Servant of the People.”Born in Kryvyi Rih, near Dnipro, to a Jewish family of scientists, Zelensky has not mentioned his Jewish identity in interviews before or during the campaign, which critics say is purposefully vague.

var cont = `Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>



`; document.getElementById("linkPremium").innerHTML = cont; (function (v, i){ });</s>Ukraine's election commission has released the final results of the March 31 presidential vote, giving political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskyy just over 30 percent of the vote.

With no candidate getting 50 percent, Zelenskyy will meet incumbent Petro Poroshenko on April 21 in a runoff.

The Central Election Commission announced on April 4 that Zelenskyy secured 30.24 percent of vote while Poroshenko received 15.95 percent. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came in third with 13.40 percent.

The commission said 18.9 million eligible voters took part in the election. Turnout was 62.8 percent.

International observers said on April 1 that the election was "well administered" and "competitive."

The election came as the country struggles with a war against Russia-backed separatists, Moscow's seizure of a key chunk of its territory, a sluggish economy, and rampant corruption.</s>The top two candidates in Sunday’s presidential poll, a comedian and a senior politician, will face each other in a runoff on April 21, Ukraine’s election authority said Thursday.

SECOND ROUND IN THE VOTE

Vladimir Zelenskiy, who has played the president on a popular TV show, got 30.24 percent of the vote, while Petro Poroshenko, the country’s current actual president, got about half of that,15.95 percent, according to the country's Central Election Commission. As no candidate got 50 percent of the vote, with all the votes counted, the nation’s next president will be chosen in a runoff.

On Sunday, former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko came in third with 13.40 percent, opposition leader Yuriy Boyko was fourth with 11.67 percent, and former Defense Minister Anatoly Gritsenko was fifth with 6.91 percent.

Commenting on the results, Timoshenko criticized both Zelenskiy and Poroshenko, saying neither can address Ukraine’s problems, but declined to appeal the vote results and pledged to help whoever wins.

Since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych left office in February 2014, Ukraine has faced a host of problems, including Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in March and a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.</s>KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Latest on Ukraine’s presidential election (all times local): 4:35 p.m. Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have hailed Ukraine’s presidential election as competitive and free…

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Latest on Ukraine’s presidential election (all times local):

Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have hailed Ukraine’s presidential election as competitive and free overall.

The OSCE observation mission said in a statement that voters “had a broad choice” at the polls and that the candidates “could campaign freely.” The observers said they have a positive assessment of the election day and expect it to be the case at the impending runoff.

Preliminary results show comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy winning the first round with more than 30 percent of the vote while the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko trails behind. The two are expected to face off in the second round of voting on April 21.

Early results in Ukraine’s presidential election show a comedian with no political experience maintaining his strong lead against the incumbent president in the first round, setting the stage for a runoff in three weeks.

With just over half of the polling stations counted Monday, Volodomyr Zelenskiy had 30.2 percent of the vote, while incumbent President Petro Poroshenko was a distant second with about 16.6 percent. Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko trailed behind with 13 percent. The results were in sync with a top exit poll.

The strong showing of Zelenskiy reflects the public longing for a fresh leader who has no links to the corruption-ridden Ukrainian political elite and can offer a new approach to settling the grinding conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.</s>A comedian who has promised to wipe out corruption held a commanding lead after the first round of voting in Ukraine's presidential election, leaving the incumbent in a distant second.

With nearly 90 percent of the ballots counted by Monday afternoon, Volodymyr Zelensky, 41, had a 14 point lead on President Petro Poroshenko, beating all expectations.

Talking to cheering supporters after his lead became apparent on Sunday, Zelensky thanked Ukrainians for not casting their ballots "just for fun."

"This is only the first step toward a great victory," said Zelensky, who has never held political office.

The comedian, who led opinion polls throughout the campaign, has vowed to enact anti-corruption reforms and make Ukrainians "prosperous." He has also promised to end the war with pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

“You don’t need experience to be president, you just need to be a decent human being," was a mantra repeated by him and his aides.

Zelensky and Poroshenko looked set to clash in the run-off on April 21, when things could get heated, according to a Kiev-based political strategist, Olexiy Golobutskiy.

The race will likely become "much more rough" in this next stage of campaigning, Golobutskiy said. "It’s not easy to make up a gap of more than 10 percent."

Most opinion polls released before the election predicted that Zelensky would beat any candidate who faces him in the runoff.

Golobutskiy said Poroshenko and his team will have to dig deep to try to lure voters who gave their votes to the candidates who did not make it to the second round. There were originally 39 candidates on the ballot.

“Poroshenko’s campaign will also be faced with the task of demotivating the voters who voted for Zelensky," Golobutskiy said.

Zelensky's lack of political experience and vague policies have left many wondering how he would fare as president of a nation that has been at war since mass protests ousted a pro-Kremlin government in 2014.

Emily Ferris, a Russia research fellow at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, said voters’ behavior can be unpredictable and many may opt out for continuity when faced with a choice between Poroshenko and "an unknown alternative" like Zelensky in the runoff.

Poroshenko, 53, has tried to convince voters with a militarist message. Casting himself as the man who can prevent Ukraine from becoming a Russian vassal state, he has also promoted the Ukrainian language and been instrumental in establishing a new independent Orthodox church.

But his inability to tackle rampant corruption and plummeting living standards had prompted many to consider alternatives.

Poroshenko called the result a "stern lesson," saying that he has heard loud and clear the "signal" sent by the voters on Sunday.

He then called Zelensky "a puppet of oligarch Igor Kolomoyskyi," and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "dreams of a soft, meek, compliant, giggling, inexperienced and weak, ideologically amorphous and politically undecided president of Ukraine."

Balázs Jarábik, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, predicted that Poroshenko will continue portraying Zelensky as someone who will cozy up to the Kremlin in the weeks to come.

Zelesnky had previously said that he was ready to negotiate directly with Putin if that meant ending the conflict in the east.

"Such a polarizing campaign, though, is one of the reasons why many Ukrainians support Zelensky," Jarábik added.

Despite some reports of irregularities, most experts and observers deemed Sunday's election transparent and fair, with over 63 percent turning up to vote — higher than after the 2014 protests that shook the country.

"Many Ukrainians felt that saying 'No' to the old system, represented by Poroshenko and Tymoshenko, is very important,” he said, referring to Yulia Tymoshenko, the nationalist former prime minister who placed third with 13.2 percent.

The result "is very good news for Ukraine's democracy," he added.</s>Ukrainian presidential frontrunner Volodymyr Zelensky's political experience had been limited to playing the president in a TV show (AFP Photo/Genya SAVILOV)

Kiev (AFP) - Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is favourite to become Ukraine's president after results Monday showed him dominating a first-round vote despite many initially dismissing his candidacy as a joke.

The 41-year-old's political experience has been limited to playing the president in a TV show but he leapfrogged establishment candidates amid public frustration over corruption and a stalling economy.

Results published on April Fools' Day -- an irony not lost on Ukrainian social media -- showed Zelensky taking 30 percent in Sunday's first round, almost double the 16-percent vote share of incumbent Petro Poroshenko.

The two will meet in a run-off vote on April 21 after almost 93 percent of counted ballots showed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and dozens of other candidates falling out of the race.

If Zelensky wins then, as polls and analysts suggest, he will take the reins of one of the poorest countries in Europe -- a nation of 45 million people fighting Russian-backed separatists in its industrial east.

"I want to thank all the Ukrainians who came out and voted in seriousness," the high-spirited actor told supporters after exit polls showed a better-than-expected result late Sunday.

Zelensky had topped opinion polls for weeks and the main question going into the weekend vote was who between Tymoshenko and Poroshenko would meet him in the second round.

But the size of his lead came as a surprise.

Poroshenko called the result a "harsh lesson" for him personally and for the authorities as a whole.

Tymoshenko, who came to international prominence as a face of the 2004 Orange Revolution and was taking her third tilt at the presidency, had denounced exit polls as "dishonest".

But a monitoring mission by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Monday that the vote had been in general "well-organized, smooth, transparent and efficient".

"Observers noted a few procedural errors and very few serious violations during the vote count," it said in a statement.

The European Union anticipated "a free, fair and transparent second round of the elections."

"It is important that all parties adhere to democratic principles, respecting the will of Ukrainian people and avoid provoking unnecessary tensions," an EU statement added.

Political analyst Anatoliy Oktysyuk of Kiev's Democracy House think tank said it would be "difficult" for Poroshenko to knock the comic off course in the head-to-head round.

"He (Poroshenko) has no room for growth. He has played all his cards," Oktysyuk told AFP.

"This is a protest against the old elites and a call for new faces."

Oktysyuk expects Poroshenko to frame the contest as part of a wider confrontation between Moscow and the West -- with himself the only one who could stand up to Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the first-round result but said Moscow hoped Ukrainians would not vote for a "party of war" -- a thinly-veiled reference to Poroshenko.

Poroshenko came to power in 2014 after a revolution forced his Kremlin-backed predecessor Viktor Yanukovych out of office.

The uprising was followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea and the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The 53-year-old leader -- a chocolate magnate who was one of the country's richest men when he took office -- said he would end the fighting, tackle graft and align the country with the West.

But five years on, the ongoing conflict has claimed 13,000 lives and many feel Poroshenko has failed to live up to the promise of the revolution.

Despite concerns about Zelensky's vague platform, supporters insist only a total outsider can clean up Ukraine's murky politics.

"A real democracy is when the result of the vote is a surprise. Congratulations -- Ukraine is not Russia, Ukraine is Europe," Kiev businessman and lecturer Valery Pekar wrote on Facebook.

Some accuse Zelensky of acting as a front for the interests of oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, who owns the channel that broadcasts the entertainer's shows, but the actor denies any political links.

He eschewed traditional rallies and interviews in favour of playing gigs with his comedy troupe up to the final days of campaigning.

The political comedy "Servant of the People" he stars in returned for its third season last week.</s>Ukraine is a Nazi-infested police state, a fantasy democracy, not the real thing, fundamental freedoms eliminated.

In February 2014, democratic governance was abolished, orchestrated by the Obama regime, resistance against repressive ruling authorities not tolerated.

On Sunday, round one of the farcical presidential election was held, 39 candidates on the ballot.

Three alone mattered – US-installed billionaire/oligarch incumbent Petro Poroshenko, convicted felon Yulia Timoshenko, and comedian/entertainer Vladimir Zelensky.

More on the candidates below. Sunday results were as follows: With more than half the votes counted as of early Monday morning, Zelensky leads with 30% support, Poroshenko with 16.5 (despite his single digit approval rating), and Timoshenko with 13%.

Days ahead of the so-called “election,” Zelensky was expected to poll highest, Timoshenko second with a five-point lead over Poroshenko, other candidates with scant support.

Two days ahead of Sunday’s vote, a dubious poll showed Poroshenko in second place ahead of Timoshenko. If final tallies show him finishing second to Zelensky, they’ll meet in an April 21 runoff, Timoshenko and other candidates eliminated.

As president, he enjoys immunity from prosecution. If defeated in the runoff, he could be held accountable for corruption and other criminality.

Reportedly on Saturday, the day before yesterday’s vote, he ordered Ukrainian security services and police to patrol streets and seize control of polling stations on the pretext of “protect(ing) the elections.”

Most likely it was to avoid elimination in round-one voting. With single-digit support, it appeared likely. As things now stand, he survived at least until April 21.

During the late 2013/early 2014 Obama regime-orchestrated Maidan coup, he was Washington’s man in Kiev, involved in bankrolling US-supported putschists.

Nicknamed the “chocolate king,” his Roshen Confectionery Corporation is the world’s 18th largest producer of these products.

His other business interests include automotive, shipping, and media. Like other oligarchs in Ukraine and elsewhere, he amassed wealth the old-fashioned way by grand theft and other devious schemes.

Billionaire/mega-thief Timoshenko earlier was imprisoned for embezzlement and serious “abuse of public office.”

Charges included illegally diverting $425 million meant for environmental projects into pension funds. A second case involved stealing around $130 million for personal use.

She headed United Energy Systems (UES). Her shady business practices earned her the nickname “gas princess.”

As US orchestrated 2004 Orange Revolution prime minister, she operated extrajudicially, scorning economic reform, along with furthering her presidential ambitions, a platform if gained for greater abuse of power and corruption.

Zelensky has close ties to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. As appointed governor in eastern Ukraine, he oversaw the May 2, 2014 Odessa massacre, eliminating scores of coup opponents.

Kolomoyskyi and Poroshenko are bitter rivals. The incumbent accused him of supporting Zelensky “to take revenge against the” regime for nationalizing his Privatbank.

Zelensky portrayed Ukraine’s president in a television series – now the frontrunner to assume the post after the April 21 runoff.

No matter who’s named Ukrainian president later this month, dirty business as usual will triumph like earlier in 2014.

It’s how things work in America, most other Western countries, Israel, and elsewhere. Powerful interests run things, elections farcical when held. Ordinary people have no say – for sure not in Ukraine.

Intermittent war in Donbass continues. No matter who’s anointed Ukrainian president, dark forces in Washington will control things, no breakthrough in Minsk peace talks with Kiev likely.

On Monday, Donetsk Peoples’ Republic operational command head Edward Basurin said “(t)here will be no dialogue with Zelensky,” adding:

Basurin believes there’s a high probability that Poroshenko will order belligerence in Donbass ahead of the April 21 runoff, perhaps declaring martial law like earlier as a way to help him stay in power.

Separately, Timoshenko claimed the vote count her team tallied showed her finishing second with 16% support – ahead of Poroshenko.

She accused security forces of tampering with Sunday’s electoral process. For Life party candidate Yuriy Boyko made a similar accusation.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission reported no serious irregularities on Sunday. The Interior Ministry said there were over 2,100 reports of violations, 39 criminal cases opened Sunday evening to investigate them.

Nothing in Ukraine is simple, its rule despotic, its electoral process deeply flawed. Moscow questioned its legitimacy, saying up to 10 million Ukrainian expats in Russia were denied the right to vote on Sunday.

They fled cross-border because of war on Donbass, forced conscription of military-aged men, economic hardships, out-of-control corruption, and despotic rule – clearly hostile to Poroshenko, why he disenfranchised them.

Given the disturbing state of things in Ukraine, no matter who serves as president, ordinary people in the country will be ill-served, exploited and abused.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”</s>Ukrainians cast their votes on Sunday in a presidential election that could shape the country's future for decades to come, with a comedian who has no political experience the favorite to take the helm of a country ravaged by military conflict and an ailing economy.

With a long list of 39 names on the ballot, the nation will be choosing a leader to steer Ukraine's economic growth, end an ongoing conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the east and fight rampant corruption.

Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has been consistently leading opinion polls for months ahead of the election, with President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko trailing far behind.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) and preliminary results could be in as soon as Monday morning.

Should none of the candidates get more than 50 per cent of the vote, a runoff election between the top two will be held on April 21.

Whoever ultimately takes power will have to grapple with neighboring Russia — which backed separatists in Ukraine's east and annexed Crimea in 2014.

None of the three top candidates have positioned themselves as friendly to the Kremlin, an unwelcome association in the country's current political climate.

Poroshenko swept to power in May 2014, months after mass protests forced the ouster of Putin-backed Viktor Yanukovych.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko ran against Poroshenko and finished a distant second.

This time around Tymoshenko, 58, has played heavily to the economic distress of millions of Ukrainians, promising to enact legislation that will reduce prices of household gas by 50 percent immediately after taking office. She is also keen to keep the country on the pro-European path it embarked on after the 2014 revolution.

Poroshenko, a 53-year-old confectionery tycoon whose popularity has sunk amid Ukraine's economic woes and a sharp plunge in living standards, has been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption.

His time in office has also been marred by a defence spending scandal that broke out in the middle of the campaign in February.

Poroshenko has focused his election platform on support for the army and Ukrainian language.

He declared martial law in regions close to the Russian border last November in the wake of an incident in which Russia rammed, shot at and seized three Ukrainian ships, detaining 24 sailors.

In a move that prompted international criticism, Poroshenko has also banned Russian citizens from becoming election observers and said no election ballots will be allowed to be cast by Ukrainians living in Russia.

Zelensky, a successful actor and producer, has led an unconventional campaign aimed at engaging voters on social media.

In a case of art potentially imitating life, he played the Ukrainian president in a popular TV show.

Zelensky, 41, didn't hold rallies, instead traveling around the country selling tickets to gigs at which he parodied many of the politicians he is running against.

He has pledged to tackle corruption, stop a brain drain out of the country and make Ukraine “prosperous” again. He has also previously said that if elected he will only serve for one term.

Voters in the historically Russian-speaking southeastern regions of Ukraine could be crucial for Zelensky, who is a native Russian speaker.

Zelensky has also managed to engage a younger section of the electorate, but whether they actually buck historical trends and turn out to vote remains an open question.

Concern about the election's fairness spiked this week after the interior minister said his department was "slammed" by numerous claims that campaigners for Poroshenko and Tymoshenko were trying to bribe voters.

Many political observers have described the election as a battle between Ihor Kolomoyskyi — the self-exiled billionaire businessman alleged to be backing the comedian front-runner — and Poroshenko, who was himself on Forbes Magazine's list of billionaires in 2014.

Both the president and Kolomoyskyi have relied on an arsenal of media outlets under their control to exchange blows.

Just days before the vote, Kolomoyskyi's TV channel aired a new season of the "Servant of the People" series starring Zelensky.

The comedian may soon be playing the president for real.</s>A total of 30.22% of voters supported presidential candidate / actor / TV presenter, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, 15.92% incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko, and 13.39% - Chairperson of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Association party, Yuliya Tymoshenko, after 99.07% of e-reports on voting results counted.

This follows from the data posted on the website of the Central Election Commission, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

At the same time, 11.68% of voters supported Co-Chair of the Opposition Platform - For Life parliamentary interfactional association, Yurii Boiko.

6.03% - Presidential candidate / former chairperson of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU; 2003-2005), Ihor Smeshko.

5.48% - Chairperson of the Radical Party faction at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Oleh Liashko.

1.63% - former chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Koshulynskyi

The other candidates received less than 1% of votes.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the turnout of voters at the presidential election on March 31 was 63.52%.

Officially, the voting results must be set before April 10 inclusively.

If none of the candidates gain more than 50%, then the second round of election should be scheduled for April 21.
Volodymyr Zelensky wins the first round of Ukraine's presidential election with 30 percent of the vote, with President Petro Poroshenko coming in second with 15 percent of the vote. Since no candidate reached the required number of votes to achieve the office of the presidency, a runoff election between the two candidates will be held on April 21. Voter turnout was 63 percent.