Popular comedian races ahead in Ukrainian presidential election

Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife Olena react as they visit a campaign headquarters following a presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine March 31, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

KIEV (Reuters) - A comedian with no political experience raced ahead in Ukraine's presidential election on Sunday, offering a fresh face to voters fed up with entrenched corruption in a country on the frontline of the West's standoff with Russia.

Exit polls and early counting put 41-year-old Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, comfortably ahead of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in the first round, though short of a majority.