Comedian Zelenskiy would win second round of Ukraine vote, poll shows

Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with journalists after undergoing a drugs and alcohol test, which is a precondition to participate in a policy debate ahead of the second round of a presidential election, outside a hospital in Kiev, Ukraine April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko -/File Photo

KIEV (Reuters) - The presidential candidate and comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy is likely to win Ukraine's presidential election, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday. The poll by the KIIS research firm showed Zelenskiy, a political novice who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, on 72.2 percent of the vote. Incumbent Petro Poroshenko was on 25.4 percent. KIIS polled 2,004 voters in all regions, except annexed Crimea, from April 9 to 14. Last week, a poll by Reiting research agency gave Zelenskiy 61 percent of votes and incumbent Petro Poroshenko 24 percent. Poroshenko and Zelenskiy will meet in the second round of Ukraine's presidential election, which will take place on April 21. Zelenskiy won nearly twice as many votes as Poroshenko in the first round, on March 31. (Reporting by Andrey Makhovsky, writing by Pavel Polityuk, editing by Larry King)