Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, who is seeking re-election for a second term, and his challenger, comedic actor without political experience Volodymyr Zelenskiy, faced off in a debate at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on April 19.
The debate took place two days before the runoff Election Day on April 21. An estimated 22,000 people came to the stadium to support their candidate, according to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine.
It was the third presidential debate in the electoral history of independent Ukraine. The last debate took place between candidates Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych in 2004.
The 2019 presidential debate will go down in history as the most unorthodox. It was Zelenskiy’s condition to hold the debate at the largest arena in Kyiv, not in a television studio of national broadcaster Suspilne as stipulated by law.
Poroshenko and Zelenskiy set their stages on the stadium’s field facing each other and divided the area between them into two fan zones separated by a line of police.
Poroshenko supporters in the fan zone and in the bleachers significantly outnumbered Zelenskiy’s supporters.
The actor’s campaign distributed free tickets to its zone through a website. The president’s campaign gave out free tickets through a special registration form and provided free transportation to attendees from other regions.
At the start of the debate, Poroshenko greeted his supporters from his stage and then surprised the crowds by leaving it and crossing the field to another stage to stand next to his opponent Zelenskiy.
At the end of the debate, Poroshenko challenged Zelenskiy to continue the debate on Suspilne. According to Ukrainian law, the two presidential candidates are required to debate on the national broadcaster on the last Friday before the second round of elections. Suspilne rescheduled the time of the televised debate from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. so that both candidates would have time to leave the stadium. Zelenskiy did not attend the debate on Suspilne.
Read our live coverage of the debate here and watch a video from the stadium.
