Comedian leads polls ahead of presidential election

KIEV, Ukraine — A comedian who’s never held political office tops the public opinion polls on the eve of Ukraine’s presidential election, but even he appears to be falling far short of enough support to win in the first round.

Ukrainians will choose Sunday from among 39 candidates for a president they hope can guide the country of more than 42 million out of troubles including endemic corruption, a seemingly intractable war with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east and a struggling economy.

President Petro Poroshenko is running for another term, but a poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology showed him with support of just 13.7 percent of voters. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who shot to national prominence by playing the role of president in a television comedy series, topped the poll at 20.9 percent. Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister making her third run at the presidency, was in third with 9.7 percent.

If no candidate wins a majority of the votes Sunday, a runoff between the top two will be held April 21. Nearly a quarter of those who intend to vote say they remain undecided, according to the survey.

All the leading candidates advocate Ukraine eventually joining NATO and the European Union, and the election will be closely watched by those organizations for indications of whether Ukraine is developing democratic processes.

Concern about the election’s fairness spiked last week after the country’s interior minister said he is investigating claims that campaigners for Poroshenko and Tymoshenko offered money to voters to support their candidates.

Zelenskiy, 41, is famous for his TV portrayal of a schoolteacher who becomes president after a video of him denouncing corruption goes viral. Even before he announced his candidacy, Zelenskiy’s name was turning up high in public opinion polls, with potential voters seemingly encouraged by his “Servant of the People” TV series, which also became the name of his party.

Like his TV character, Zelenskiy has focused on corruption. He proposes a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of corruption and calls for a tax amnesty under which someone holding hidden assets would be taxed at 5 percent and face no other measures. He also calls for direct negotiation with Russia on ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.