Although Volodymyr Zelenskiy was criticized for a vague campaign platform and having never held public office, voters appeared to have cast aside those concerns in favour of a thorough sweep of Ukr…
KIEV, Ukraine — A comedian who plays an inexperienced president on Ukrainian TV looked poised to reprise the role in real life after an exit poll indicated he received nearly three out of every four votes cast in a runoff election Sunday.
Corruption remained pervasive during that time, and a war with Russia-backed separatist rebels in the eastern part of the country killed more than 13,000 people. Zelenskiy. 41, became famous nationwide for his comic portrayal in a television series of a teacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral.
The incumbent campaigned on the same promise he made when he was elected in 2014: to lead the nation of 42 million into the European Union and NATO. However, the goals have been elusive amid Ukraine’s economic problems, pervasive corruption and fighting in the east. A visa-free deal with the EU spawned the exodus of millions of skilled workers for better living conditions elsewhere in Europe.
“Poroshenko has done a lot of good things for the country – creating its own church, getting the visa-free deal and taking Ukraine away from the empire,” said 44-year-old businessman Volodymyr Andreichenko, who voted for him. Zelenskiy, who comes from Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking east, has opposed Poroshenko’s push for a bill that would outlaw the Russian language and mocked the creation of the new church as a campaign stunt.He showered the president with questions about his assets during Friday’s debate. Poroshenko denies any link to an alleged embezzlement scheme involving one of his companies and a top associate.
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