Ukraine election: Comedian Zelensky wins presidency by landslide

A comedian Volodymyr Zelensky who has no political experience has won the Ukrainian Presidential election on Sunday in a landslide victory.

Volodymyr Zelensky, whose only previous political role was playing the president on television, defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko by taking 73 percent of the vote, BBC reports.

Poroshenko lost to the television star across all regions of the country, including in the west where he traditionally enjoyed strong support.
It was an extraordinary outcome to a campaign that started as a joke but struck a chord with voters frustrated by poverty, corruption and a five-year war that has claimed some 13,000 lives.

The 41-year-old star of TV series “Servant of the People” will now take the helm of a country of 45 million people beset by challenges and having run on the vaguest of political platforms.

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After taking the most votes in last month’s first-round election, Zelensky had enjoyed a strong lead over the 53-year-old Poroshenko going into Sunday’s poll.
Voting earlier in the capital Kiev, the beaming fron-trunner had said his campaign managed to bring Ukrainians together.

“We have united Ukraine,” he said, wearing a casual suit with a t-shirt and accompanied by his wife. “Everything will be all right.”