Comedian leads first round of Ukraine's Presidential elections

Muscat: A comedian who plays a fictitious president on TV is leading the first round of Ukraine's presidential elections.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the frontrunner in a packed field according to the latest polls. He is followed by incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Zelenskiy plays a schoolteacher who accidentally becomes president in the hit show 'Servant of the People'. His political party has the same name as the hit TV series.

Voting lists include 39 candidates. If none of them receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a runoff election will be held next month.

According to the Ukrainian Central election commission's database, the country has about 30 million of registered voters.

This is the seventh time Ukrainians are casting their ballots since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. An estimated 2,300 observers, including 1,500 foreigners, are taking part, local media have reported.