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Ukraine announces official results of first round of presidential election

The turnout reached 62.8%

© AP Photo/Sergei Grits

KIEV, April 7. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Central Election Commission has announced the official results of the first round of the presidential election held on March 31. The final results are as such: candidate from the Servant of the People party Vladimir Zelensky has received 30.24% of the vote, while incumbent Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko came in second with 15.95%. The turnout reached 62.8%.

"The percentage of votes given to each candidate in proportion to the total number of voters: <…> Zelensky Vladimir Alexandrovich - 30.24% <…> Poroshenko Pyotr Alexeyevich - 15.95%," head of the Ukraine’s Central Election Commission Tatyana Slipachuk announced. She added that on March 31, 18.9 mln Ukrainians took part in the election. Out of this number, over 5.7 mln voted for Zelensky and around 3.1 mln gave their vote to Poroshenko.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission informed TASS that from now on, both presidential candidates have an official right to campaign in the run-up to the second round of the vote, set for April 21.

Both politicians had started campaigning before the announcement of official results. On Sunday morning, Poroshenko reminded of his political course for Ukraine’s integration into NATO and the EU on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, the candidates were also suspected of breaching the electoral law during their public discussion of the upcoming presidential debates. The commission stated that such discussions may be seen as campaigning, and urged the candidates "to stop manipulating the public opinion on holding the TV debates".

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