A comedy actor with no political experience has thrashed the incumbent in the first round of Ukraine's presidential elections, according to exit polls.
div > div.group > p:first-child"> Volodymyr Zelensky, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV show, secured 30.4 percent of the vote on Sunday, early results showed. Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire magnate and Ukraine's current leader, received 17.8 percent.
"This is the biggest problem," Zelensky said, when asked whether fighting corruption would be a priority under his leadership. Market participants are also likely to closely monitor whether the country's next president will favor reforms needed to keep Ukraine in an International Monetary Fund bailout program.
The armed conflict in the eastern Donbass region has died down following numerous cease-fires that have been implemented and then collapsed. Attempts to stop the conflict were made in Minsk in late 2014 and again in 2015 but both sides accuse each other of not complying with agreed conditions. But, widespread corruption and frustration over low living standards in one of Europe's poorest countries appears to have fueled Zelensky's rise to prominence.
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