With half the ballots counted, Zelensky looks set to face incumbent Poroshenko in runoff
By David L. Stern and Anton Troianovski Anton Troianovski Moscow bureau chief covering Russia Email Bio Follow April 1 at 3:01 AM KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainians awoke on April Fools’ Day to the reality of a comedian on the verge of taking over as commander in chief.
“I am so incredibly thankful to you all,” Zelensky said in a video message to his 3 million Instagram followers. “You may think you’re somewhere out there on the Internet, and we are somewhere far away, but we are all in one life, together.” “From this very minute, we need the total mobilization of all Ukrainian patriots,” Poroshenko said after the polls closed Sunday. “No one has the right to leave the country’s fate up to those who are casting their votes, as they say, as a joke. The jokes are over.”In a case of life imitating art — or in this case, Netflix — Zelensky’s only claim to presidential experience is that he plays a commander in chief in a popular television series, “Servant of the People.
“He’s young, progressive and is different from everything that’s come before,” said Katerina Tarasiuk, a 31-year-old real estate agent in Kiev who voted for Zelensky despite her concerns about his lack of political experience. “He’s a businessman and has proven himself in a lot of other areas.”
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