Unpredictable election makes Ukraine's friends wary

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is welcomed by President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the Europa building in Brussels, Belgium March 20, 2019. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

KIEV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukraine's Western backers fear the country's next president may prove unwilling or unable to accelerate reforms they have spent five years investing in, whoever it turns out to be.

The election due on Sunday has boiled down to a three-horse race between President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series.