On March 31, Ukrainians vote in the presidential election. For those who haven’t been following closely, here are the key facts. We also follow all the election developments live.
Who’s running?
There are 39 candidates, a record number in the election. They include everyone from obscure businessmen to political veterans and celebrities. Only three of the candidates are women.
More: Here are all 39 candidates for president of Ukraine
Who could win?
According to the polls, there are three clear leaders. Two of them are likely to end up in the runoff on April 21, and Ukrainians will vote again, now choosing from these two.
The three leaders of the race are: Actor and political newbie Volodymyr Zelenskiy (polled at 26.6 percent), incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who is seeking re-election (17-18 percent), and ex-Prime Minister, leader of the Batkivshchyna party Yulia Tymoshenko (13-17 percent).
Two more candidates at different stages of the race appeared to have a chance to go in the second round: Ex-Defense Minister, democratic opposition candidate Anatoliy Grytsenko and ex-Energy Minister, member of parliament, and pro-Russian candidate Yuriy Boyko. Lately, they have been polling at about 10 percent or under.
More about the top candidates:
Who is Volodymyr Zelenskiy? (VIDEO). About his campaign: Green Light to Presidency?
Who is Petro Poroshenko? (VIDEO). About his campaign: Not So Easy This Time
Who is Yulia Tymoshenko? (VIDEO). About her campaign: Her Turn?
When will we know the results?
The first results will start arriving in the early hours of the day after the election, April 1. In the 2014 election, 40 percent of the ballots were processed by 8 a. m., and most of them were processed by the end of the day, although it took two more days to complete the count. It is likely that the preliminary results will be announced by the end of April 1.
Before that, there will be exit polls.
At 8 p.m. on March 31, pollsters will announce the preliminary results of the national exit poll. At 11 p. m. on Election Day, the final results of the national exit poll will be in. In the 2014 election, the exit poll results reflected the actual result of the election almost precisely.
The turnout will be announced within two hours of the 8 p. m. cutoff time.
Opora election watchdog will announce the results of its parallel vote tabulation on April 1, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Election Observation Mission will hold a press event the same morning.
What will happen next?
Two candidates with the highest support will go in the second and the final round of election, which should take place on April 21.
According to the law, the new president has to be inaugurated no later than June 3.
What’s special about this election?
This is the seventh presidential election in Ukraine and the most unpredictable one so far. For the first time, there are three front-runners instead of two, so it’s not even clear which two candidates will go in the second round.
This election is also taking place five years after the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, which set Ukraine on the pro-Western course. The new president is expected to either continue this course, or change it – which means that the country could fall under Russia’s influence, again.
It is also the first election to take place after five years of the Russian war against Ukraine. The 2014 election took place at the beginning of the war, and Poroshenko got elected on the promise to end it “within hours.” In 2018, he apologized for this promise.
Ukraine so far has had five presidents, including the incumbent: Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, Victor Yushchenko, Viktor Yanukovych, and Poroshenko. Kuchma was the only president who was re-elected. Yanukovych didn’t last his first term, having been ousted by the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014.
