Comedian Zelenskiy leads poll in Ukraine presidential election

Comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the frontrunner in Ukraine’s presidential election race, according to the latest opinion poll, published on Monday.


A survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of sociology (KIIS) showed the 41-year-old Zelenskiy, a political novice, had the support of 15.4 percent of voters. Incumbent Petro Poroshenko had the support of 10.5 percent and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko had 8 percent.


The election takes place on March 31, with 44 candidates set to compete. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, as polls predict, the top two candidates would face each other in a run-off on April 21.


The centre said it had interviewed 2,042 voters in all regions, except in annexed Crimea, from Feb. 8 to Feb 20.


Earlier polls also put Zelenskiy on the first place.
Following is a table showing the percentage support for leading candidates among voters planning to take part in the election in three recent polls:


(* Updated)


SOCIS Razumkov * KIIS

Feb. 8-18 centre Feb. 8-20

Feb. 7-14
Volodymyr 19.1 17.5 15.4
Zelenskiy
Petro 14.9 13.1 10.5
Poroshenko
Yulia 12.3 11.5 8.0
Tymoshenko
Yuriy 8.3 6.3 6.3
Boyko
Anatoly 5.3 5.9 3.7
Hrytsenko