Ukraine's presidential race heads to a runoff after first round
A look back at the position of the candidates in the days after the first round of voting in Ukraine's 2019 presidential election.
What did Ukraine's presidential race look like on 4 April 2019? By then the first-round result was known, and the country was preparing for a second vote.
Volodymyr Zelensky won the first round with 30 percent of the vote, as reported on 3 April. President Petro Poroshenko came second with 15 percent. Voter turnout was 63 percent.
No candidate reached the share of votes required to win the presidency outright, so a runoff between the top two was scheduled for 21 April. The first round itself had been held on 31 March 2019, and 39 candidates were on the ballot.
What came later
The runoff took place on 21 April, as scheduled. Ukraine's Central Election Commission later announced that Zelenskyy had won the second round with 73.22 percent of the total vote. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe recognised the elections as free and fair.
For the days covered here, however, the contest was still open. Zelensky, a television personality, led the field, and Poroshenko, the incumbent, had secured his place in the runoff.
