COMEDIAN MAY HAVE LAST LAUGH IN UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

Zelenskiy to face off President Poroshenko in April 21 run-off

ACOMEDIAN with no political experience raced ahead in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, offering a fresh face to voters fed up with entrenched corruption in a country on the frontline of the West’s standoff with Russia.

With more than half of ballots

counted by yesterday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, who plays a fictional president in a popular television series, held a comfortable lead over President Petro Poroshenko in a vote deemed largely free and fair by the national electoral commission.

A crowded field of 39 candidates has shrunk to two, with Zelenskiy and Poroshenko set to go head to head in a second round run-off on April 21.

Propelled by his anti-establishment appeal, Zelenskiy must convince voters he is fit to lead a country that has been at war since protests in 2014 ejected a proKremlin government and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.

He and Poroshenko face firmly west. Neither wants to move Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit.

Zelenskiy has been criticised for being an unknown quantity and light on policy detail. His victory speech on Sunday provided little insight into what he would do if was handed the top job.

REUTERS PIC Comic and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy playing table tennis at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, on Sunday.