Official election results show Zelensky elected as president of Ukraine

KIEV -- Ukrainian actor Volodymyr Zelensky has been elected as the sixth president of Ukraine, official data from the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) showed on Tuesday.

With 100 percent of votes counted, Zelensky garnered 73.22 percent of the votes, which means that more than 13.5 million people cast ballots for him in the second round of the election.

Zelensky will replace incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who gained 24.45 percent of voter support in the election runoff. The rest voters spoiled their ballot papers.

Voting in the second round of the presidential election in Ukraine was held on April 21 since neither of the candidates got more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round on March 31.

The voter turnout in the election runoff reached 61.37 percent.

The 41-year-old Zelensky is a Ukrainian comedian actor, screenwriter and director. He has no previous political experience, but is known locally for his role of playing the president in a Ukrainian TV series - Servant of the People.

In his electoral program, Zelensky pledged to root out corruption, ensure the equality of Ukrainian citizens before the law, decide all important state issues through referendums, and improve healthcare and education services.

Zelensky also did not rule out direct negotiations between Kiev and Moscow on the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

The new president is expected to take office no later than June 3.