Comic poised to take over presidency in Ukraine vote
Ukrainians went to polls Sunday in the second round of an extraordinary election with a comedian who plays a president on TV expected to win in a stunning rebuke to the political establishment.
Forty-one-year-old Volodymyr Zelensky's bid to lead the country was initially dismissed as a joke when he announced his candidacy on New Year's Eve.
But now all opinion polls suggest incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is heading for defeat amid widespread anger over poverty, corruption and war with Moscow-backed separatists.
Voting began at 0500 GMT, with exit poll results expected at 1700 GMT and the first preliminary results several hours later.
Zelensky's victory is expected to open a new chapter in the history of a country that has gone through two popular uprisings in two decades and is mired in a five-year conflict with separatists in the east.
Ukraine is dependent on international aid and Russian energy and the next president will have to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the International Monetary Fund.
Poroshenko, 53, has argued Zelensky is a political novice unfit to be a war-time commander-in-chief.
But the consummate showman has tapped into widespread frustration over graft, poverty and a conflict that has claimed some 13,000 lives.
A survey by the Rating pollster this week showed Zelensky winning 73 percent of the vote against 27 percent for Poroshenko.
Poroshenko came to power after a bloody 2014 uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
But many in the country of 45 million people feel the promises of the pro-Western revolution have not been fulfilled.
Zelensky has shunned campaign rallies in favour of comedy gigs and used social media to share political messages, including to 3.7 million followers on Instagram.
His brand of outsider politics and unorthodox style have earned him comparisons to Italy's comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo and US President Donald Trump.