TO GO WITH AFO STORY BY ANIA TSOUKANOVA / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Pavlo Yurkin/ Volodymyr Zelensky press service " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
A handout photo taken and released by the press of office of Volodymyr Zelensky shows Ukrainian actor and canidate Volodymyr Zelensky (C) subnitting his candidacy for the elections at the Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission in Kiev, on January 25, 2019. - A Ukrainian comedian who plays the country's president in a TV series is currently the favourite to take on the real-life role in this spring's election, recent polls show. As the deadline for candidate nomination expired overnight between February 4 and February 5, surveys showed Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and incumbent Petro Poroshenko. But with a record number of candidates in the race, the vote remains highly unpredictable. "Thirty people have been registered, this is an all-time high," commission spokesperson Kostyantyn Khivrenko told AFP, saying the documents of another 40 potential candidates are also being considered. (Photo by Pavlo YURKIN / Volodymyr Zelensky press service / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Pavlo Yurkin/ Volodymyr Zelensky press service " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS