CEC announces results of first round of presidential elections

According to these results, showman Volodymyr Zelensky and incumbent head of state Petro Poroshenko made it through to the second round of the elections.

With all ballots counted, 30.24% of voters supported Zelensky and 15.95% backed Poroshenko. Some 13.4% voted for Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, 11.67% for co-chairman of the Opposition Platform – For Life Party Yuriy Boiko, 6.91% for Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko, 6.04% for former chief of Ukraine's SBU Security Service Ihor Smeshko, 5.48% for Radical Party leader Oleh Liashko, 4.15% for candidate from the Opposition Bloc Oleksandr Vilkul, and 1.62% for candidate from the Svoboda Party Ruslan Koshulynsky.

Other candidates garnered less than 1% of the vote.

At the same time, the CEC proposed holding a repeat vote on the election of the president of Ukraine and set it for Sunday, April 21, 2019.

"Volodymyr Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko should be included in the ballot," CEC Head Tetiana Slipachuk said.