According to Ukrainian national exit poll, Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian with no political experience who plays the country’s president on a TV show, has won Ukraine’s presidential election in a landslide. The poll reportedly showed Zelensky receiving 73% of the vote, sweeping away Ukraine’s incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko, who conceded defeat.
At a campaign party in a bar in Kiev, packed with hundreds of journalists, Zelensky declared victory. As the exit poll’s results were announced, confetti was shot into the air and Zelensky thanked his campaign volunteers, saying they had “protected Ukraine.” Poroshenko announced he was conceding shortly afterwards.
The result places a 41-year-old political novice at the head of Ukraine
Speaking to journalists and a handful of supporters in the bar, Zelensky hailed his win as a symbol of political change for other countries in the region.
"I’m not yet officially the president, but as a citizen of Ukraine, I can say to all countries in the post-Soviet Union look at us. Anything is possible!"
Zelensky’s victory comes amid deep dissatisfaction among Ukrainians with their political establishment, and weariness with the war. He ran promising to fight corruption and upend the political elite, which is viewed as corrupt and indifferent to the concerns of ordinary Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Poroshenko said in his concession speech that he would remain in politics, “because our team must protect the achievements that we have made in extremely difficult conditions.”
He added that his supporters must prevent what he called the “Kremlin’s plans” to form a group loyal to it in Ukraine’s parliamentary elections in the fall.
Those voting for Zelensky said that their disappointment with Poroshenko was such that they were ready to take a risk.
International media reports says few know what that change will mean in practice. Besides promising to root out corrupt officials and find an end to the war, Zelensky has campaigned on almost no detailed policies. He has also has avoided the media, refusing interviews.
In reality Zelensky reportedly comes to power with a relationship to one of Ukraine’s most controversial oligarchs, Ihor Kolomoisky. Many of those who voted for Zelensky expressed reservations about his ties to Kolomoisky, whose television channel, 1+1, airs his show, and who has supported his campaign.
Kolomoisky has been in effective exile, spending time in Israel since Ukrainian authorities nationalized his bank, Privat Bank, accusing him and associates of stealing billions of dollars from its account-holders.
