KIEV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party took a commanding lead in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, consolidating the power of the novice politician whose stunning rise has upended traditional politics in the war-scarred nation.
A former comedian who played a fictional schoolteacher-turned-president in a popular TV series, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy has tapped into widespread voter anger over corruption and low living standards in one of Europe’s poorest countries.
Sunday’s likely victory would give him control of parliament and the formation of a new government, handing him a stronger mandate to implement reforms after he won the presidential election in April by a landslide.
Exit polls and early counting of the results showed him far ahead of all other parties, although possibly short of a majority, prompting him to offer coalition talks with a pro-Western party, Voice, fronted by rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk.
