A comedian who plays the role of president on a Ukrainian TV show will likely face a runoff election against the current president after exit polls show him getting more votes than the incumbent.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, plays the role of president in “Servant of the People,” a satirical show about an ordinary man who ends up president after fighting corruption. The exit polls for Sunday’s election have Zelenskiy taking in 30.4 percent, with current president, Petro Poroshenko, in second at 17.8 percent.
“I’m very happy but this is not the final result,” Zelenskiy said Sunday. Poroshenko called the election results a “harsh lesson.”
A total of 39 candidates were listed on the ballot for Sunday’s election, but none were expected to reach the 50 percent threshold required to secure a win in the first round of voting. In third place is candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine.
The presidency in Ukraine has significant control over security and foreign policy. Ukraine is currently embroiled in a conflict against eastern separatists. Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula south of Ukraine in 2014, further straining relations between the two countries.
The runoff election is scheduled for April 21.
