Pics from Chris Miller at Zelenskyy campaign HQ:
From Chris Miller at Zelenskyy's campaign headquarters:
At Zelenskyy campaign headquarters, the mood is upbeat. Throbbing club music emanates from overhead speakers as campaign advisers mingle with journalists. Table tennis, air hockey, foosball, and PlayStation are on hand for guests, as well as a spread with pizzas, pies, and hors d'oeuvres. There's a full bar for those looking to imbibe. The environment is more party than business or politics.
Sviatoslav Yurash, a 23-year-old Zelenskyy campaign adviser who helps coordinate with civil society, told RFE/RL in an interview inside the campaign headquarters that a first-round Zelenskyy victory is expected. The nonchalance with which advisers carry themselves suggests a high level of confidence.
"We expect to finish first tonight," he said. "But we know Poroshenko will have hidden voters," meaning those who were either undecided coming into today's vote or were too bashful to support their candidate in polling prior to the vote.
Yurash said the campaign is confident that turnout today will be high, which he said should work in Zelenskyy's favor. He said the campaign feels the youth vote will go to its candidate.
The Zelenskyy campaign's pitch to young voters, Yurash said, is basically: "You live in Ukraine…you see our elites have let us down time and time again. We still have the same corruption, the same scandals we’ve seen before."
With Zelenskyy, he added, "now there's a chance for real change" and to elect a leader who is "a magnet for hearts and minds."
The Zelenskyy campaign has spent much of the week leading up to today's vote trying to mobilize young voters. Moreover, great efforts have been made to mobilize Ukrainians living abroad, Yurash said. Particularly, he said, they are looking to win over those who may have moved abroad in search of better economic opportunities but who might return to Ukraine if there is "a change of leadership to get somebody who they will want to come back for."
More from Chris Miller in Kyiv:
"The National Police of Ukraine reported this morning that they had received 71 allegations of election violations around the country. Most of them -- 10 -- were received in the eastern Donetsk region, with nine in the Dnipropetrovsk region, seven in the regions of Kharkiv Kyiv, six in Odesa Zaporizhye, and four in Luhansk, Sumy and Zakarpattia.
Police said that law enforcement had taken control of all polling stations where alleged violations occurred. Around 39,000 police officers are providing security at polling stations nationwide. In addition, reserves from the members of special forces police units and the National Guard are on standby in case of serious incidents."
Update from our correspondent on the ground, Christopher Miller (follow his Twitter here):
"Monitors at six polling stations in Kyiv's Podil district told RFE/RL that turnout before 10 a.m. seemed higher than previous elections and no falsifications had been reported. Police were on hand in the event of any irregularities, as were monitors representing various civil society organizations and political parties.
At School No. 9 the entire Dobriyvechir family of four voted for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with daughter Anastasia, 19, saying she believed the comic-turned-candidate is a "good man" who shares the same values in real life as the fictional president he plays in his hit sitcom Servant of the People.
"He's going to make our country better" like he does in his show, she said. Her mother, Svitlana, said that Zelenskyy was the obvious choice for her, because life hasn't become better under incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. "Life has gotten worse in the past five years," she said. "Utility prices have gotten higher and pensioners like our grandmother can't afford to live."
"Poroshenko delivered visa-free travel and the Tomos" -- the declaration that created a new, independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine -- "but otherwise he didn't do enough for us," Svitlana added.