(ANSA-AP) - KIEV - Political mandates don't get much more powerful than the one Ukrainian voters gave comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who as president-elect faces daunting challenges along with an overwhelming directive to produce change. With nearly all ballots counted, Zelenskiy had 73% of the vote compared to incumbent President Petro Poroshenko's 24%.

Monitor s for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the election took place with respect for "fundamental freedoms" and set the stage for a "democratic and orderly transfer of power." The first-time candidate, who stars in a TV sitcom about a high school teacher who becomes president almost by accident, appeared to have won in both the west and the east, a rarity in post-Soviet Ukraine. Zelenskiy campaigned on unifying Ukraine, which is torn by bitter debates over national identity and a bloody conflict with Russia-backed separatists. The separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea are likely to dominate the agenda of a leader with no previous political or government experience. Zelenskiy, a Russian speaker from central Ukraine, vowed to step up efforts to bring the east back under Kiev's wing, but offered no details on what that entailed. (ANSA-AP).