KYIV — The predicted winners of the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election came out swinging at their election-night parties in the capital on March 31, looking to land political body blows as focus shifted from dozens of contenders to just two.
In each case, the strategy ahead of a runoff in three weeks’ time seemed clear.
“Today a new life starts, without corruption,” TV funnyman and political upstart Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his jubilant supporters. It was a clear jab at incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, whose five-year record against corruption has left many Ukrainians unimpressed.
Meanwhile across town at Poroshenko’s campaign headquarters, the …read more
