MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Chairman of the Russian State Duma (upper house) Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky has described the preliminary results of the Ukrainian presidential election as the "failure of Poroshenko’s policy."
"Anyway, the preliminary election results attest to the failure of the ‘Maidan’ president’s policy who came to power as a result of a coup and is waging a war against his own people. [Incumbent Ukrainian leader Pyotr] Poroshenko has garnered almost half as much of the vote compared to the comic and showman," Slutsky told reporters on Monday, commenting on the data on the outcome of the vote.
According to Slutsky, "neither the pre-election provocation in the Kerch Strait with subsequent anti-Russian sanctions nor Western support helped Poroshenko win a landslide victory in the first round of the presidential election." "We need to wait for conclusions about all possible violations during the vote. One cannot rule out that Poroshenko will be able to advance to the runoff election thanks solely to the administrative resource and various frauds," Slutsky concluded.
Ukraine’s presidential election was held on March 31. Showman and head of the Servant of the People political party Vladimir Zelensky is maintaining lead in the Ukrainian presidential race, followed by incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko and leader the Batkivshchyna party, Yulia Timoshenko, with over 50% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said. The final voter turnout went as high as 63.52%.