Pro-European Billionaire Claims Victory in Ukraine Presidential Vote
KIEV, Ukraine — KIEV, Ukraine – With their country caught in a fierce tug-of-war between Russia and the West over a new 21st-century security order, Ukrainians on Sunday elected Petro O. Poroshenko, a pro-European billionaire, as president, turning to a soft-spoken businessman to lead them out of six months of wrenching turmoil including an on-going separatist insurrection in the east.
Mr. Poroshenko, a confectionary tycoon known as the “Chocolate King\,” anda longtime veteran of Ukrainian politics, declared victory as exit polls showed him with a wide lead over his strongest rival, the former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko. He appeared poised to easily clear the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a potentially divisive runoff.
Despite formidable obstacles in the east, where armed separatists largely prevented balloting from taking place on Sunday, and in Crimea, which Russian now claims as its own, election officials reported robust turnout throughout the rest of the country.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/world/europe/ukraine-elections.html?emc=edit_na_20140525
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