Comedian Zelenskiy Wins Ukrainian Presidential Race by Landslide: Exit Polls

Comedian Zelenskiy Wins Ukrainian Presidential Race by Landslide: Exit Polls
Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his team members react following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, on April 21, 2019. Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters
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KIEV—Ukraine entered uncharted political waters on April 21 after exit polls showed a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies had easily won enough votes to become the next president of a country at war.

The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity.