International observers said on Monday they were generally satisfied with the first round of the Ukrainian presidential poll.
Representatives of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe told the news conference in Kiev that they marked presence of so-called 'technical candidates', who campaigned for their rivals. The observers added that Russia's annexation of Crimea and pro-Russian rebel authority in the country's east prevented a part of the Ukrainian citizens from taking part in the vote.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old comic who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, had won the first round with more than 30.5 percent.
It leaves President Petro Poroshenko in a distant second with just 16.6 percent of the vote, a hole that may be too deep to climb out from. He faced a public furious at his failure to stamp out corruption or improve living standards five years after a pro-Russian leader was swept out by a popular revolt.
Zelenskiy and Poroshenko will face each other in a run-off in three weeks.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters TV