Investors want Ukraine to remain in IMF bailout program after elections - Reuters

A crowded field of 39 candidates has now shrunk to just two, with Zelensky and incumbent President Petro Poroshenko set to go head-to-head in a second round run-off on April 21, according to Reuters.

"Both Zelensky and Poroshenko face firmly west, and neither wants to move Ukraine back into Russia's orbit. But investors are also keen to see if the next president would push reforms required to keep the country in an International Monetary Fund bailout program that has supported Ukraine through war, sharp recession and a currency plunge," reads the article.

Zelensky must "convince voters he is fit to lead a country that has been at war ever since protests in 2014 ejected a pro-Kremlin government and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula," the news agency said.

With 50.4 percent of ballots counted by 09:00 on Monday, Zelensky held 30.2% of the vote, the Central Election Commission said. The result is a powerful challenge to the veteran politician Poroshenko, at 16.6%, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who trailed in third place with 13.1%.

Stuart Culverhouse, head of sovereign and fixed-income research at investment bank Exotix, said Zelensky had tried to present himself more professionally by meeting business leaders and talking of orthodox economic policies.

"That said, if the exit polls are confirmed in the official vote count, we would expect Zelensky to be put under greater pressure in the run-up to the second round to flesh out his policy agenda," he said.

Poroshenko has fought to integrate the country with the European Union and NATO, while strengthening the military that is fighting Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine's east.

Pushing the use of the Ukrainian language and instrumental in establishing a new independent Orthodox church, confectionary magnate Poroshenko, 53, has cast himself as the man to prevent Ukraine again becoming a Russian vassal state, Reuters writes.

"But reforms to keep foreign aid flowing have been patchy. Conflict in the eastern Donbas region has killed 13,000 people in five years and rumbles on despite Poroshenkoєs promise to end it within weeks. Frustration over low living standards and pervasive corruption has left the door open for Zelensky," the article reads.