Zelensky suffers setback in local elections
Ukrainians on Sunday voted in local elections that were considered a test for President Volodymyr Zelensky, and likely dealt a setback to his party, Euronews reported, citing early polls.
The former comedian took office last year and promised to uproot endemic corruption and shore up a worsening economy.
But out of nine major cities and regional centres across Ukraine, no candidate of the presidential party appears to have been elected mayor.
Zelensky was elected president by a landslide in April 2019 after campaigning on promises to end fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the country's east as well.
Despite his lack of prior political experience, he quickly cemented his grip on power by calling a parliamentary election that resulted in his party winning a strong majority.
But Zelensky, 42, has seen his popularity dwindle steadily as living standards have continued to plummet, corruption has remained widespread and international efforts to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in eastern Ukraine have failed to yield tangible progress.
Now his Servant of the People party came out on top in municipal council elections in only two large cities and in seven others, it most often came in third, according to two early polls.