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Intro

Ukraine is electing a new president. They go to the polls on Sunday, and effectively it’s a three-way contest. The incumbent Petro Poroshenko, is running against the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, but the real surprise is a candidate from outside of the political realm?, who has been leading the polls. But is he all that he seems ?

Francis Collings reports from Kiev

Script

It could be a case of life imitating art

If you regard TV comedy as an art form

PICS/ UPSOT/ TV show ‘good morning Mr President’

PICS/ Actor in make up chair

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian who is best known for starring in TV show about an unknown schoolteacher suddenly becoming President

....might well be ..... the next President of Ukraine

PICS/ Choosing a watch

‘Servant of people’ is a big hit on television

A fiction, that may become reality

UPSOT/ TV show

He’s been ahead in the polls for weeks

And his lack of experience has become a positive.

SOT/ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, Volodymyr Zelenskiy

"They identify with me because I am open, I get hurt, I get angry, I get upset. I do not hide my emotions on camera, I do not try to look different. If I'm inexperienced in something, I'm inexperienced. If I don't know something, I honestly admit it."

PICS/ Gv’s/ Kiev

Ukrainians are ambivalent about this election for good reasons

The country ranks as Europe’s poorest, and major sectors of the economy are dominated by oligarchs.

There’s high-level corruption and still a simmering conflict with Russia in the eastern Donbass region.

PTC

He’s certainly a fresh face on the political scene here and a surprising leader of most polls heading into the election
But despite his popularity so far, Volodymyr Zelenskiy is not above suspicion in the murky world of Ukrainian politics.

PICS/ TV show

Most of his TV exposure is on a TV channel…

PICS/ Igor Kolomoisky

...which is owned by the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.

Someone accused by the government of embezzling staggering amounts of money from a bank and is currently in exile. Accusations he denies

PICS/ Parliament and Poroshenko

To muddy the waters further, the bank in question was later nationalised by the current President, Petro Poroshenko.

So is this election - one oligarch hitting back at another, using a puppet candidate?

SOT/ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, Volodymyr Zelenskiy

"Look, I run for president not for returning PrivatBank to Ihor Kolomoisky. It would be a very strange goal. Am I that crazy? Do I want to lose my life, reputation? I am not insane, I am reasonable. Still. (LAUGHING)

GFX

His support remains below the level needed to secure outright victory.

If no-one wins 50 percent, the top two will face each other in a run-off on April 21st

PICS/ Zelenskiy/ TV show

The joke doing the rounds here ... is that for years they voted for serious people as leaders, and all they got was farce.

PICS/ Zelenskiy/ TV show/ stand up routine

So ....why not vote for a comedian?

PICS/ UPSOT laughter

FC TRT World, Kiev, Ukraine

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