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Zelensky and Poroshenko head to a runoff
Summary
A look back at the reporting on 3 April 2019, when the first-round result of Ukraine's presidential election set up a second round.
What did Ukraine's first-round vote actually decide? As reported on 3 April 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky won the first round of the presidential election with 30 percent of the vote, while President Petro Poroshenko came second with 15 percent.
No candidate reached the number of votes required to win the presidency outright, so a runoff between the two was set for 21 April. Voter turnout was 63 percent.
The ballot and the vote
The first round had been held on 31 March 2019. There were 39 candidates on the ballot, and none received an absolute majority. That left the top two vote-getters to contest the second round: Zelensky, a television personality, and Poroshenko, the incumbent.
What came next
The runoff was held on 21 April, as scheduled. The Central Election Commission later announced that Zelensky had won the second round with 73.22 percent of the total vote. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe recognised the elections as free and fair.
Elsewhere in the news
On 2 April 2019, a separate development drew attention beyond Ukraine's borders. Russia opened a helicopter training facility in Venezuela, where the state-owned company Rostec was to train Venezuelan pilots to operate Mi-35M gunships and transport helicopters. The move came after the White House warned Moscow against sending troops or military equipment to the country.
