Ukraine presidential poll: Comedian candidate Zelensky to face incumbent in run-off vote

Kiev, April 1: The embattled nation of Ukraine in East Europe went to the presidential election on Sunday, March 31, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the comedian who is running for the post, is set to face incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a run-off vote, Al Jazeera cited official preliminary results as saying.

Over 70 per cent of the votes for the election has been counted and as per Ukraine's Central Election Commission, Zelensky, a 41-year-old political novice, got 30.4 per cent of the votes cast.

"This is just a first step towards a great victory," Zelensky was quoted as saying to supporters on Sunday following the publication of the exit polls that showed similar results.

Early official counting said that Poroshenko, who has been in power since 2014, got only 16.1 per cent of votes. The incumbent president accepted the trend and said he "critically and soberly" understood the signal that came with it.

Opposition leader Yulia Tomyshenko came third as per the exit polls and the official early count but believed she had gained enough ballots to be in the second spot.