UKRAINE : ''PRESIDENT'S SHINING PARAMETERS''

KIEV : Ukrainians gave their comedian-turned president Volodymyr Zelensky a mandate to reboot the country's politics on Sunday by hauling his party a record score in parliamentary elections, exit polls showed.

Zelensky's Servant of the People Party - named after the sitcom he starred in before his shock presidential win in April - took 43.9 percent of vote in Sunday's election, according to combined figures from three pollsters.

It was the highest score in parliamentary election for any party since Ukraine gained its independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Pro-Moscow Opposition Platform for Life came second with 11.5 percent, the polls said.

The exit polls only showed results for the half of seats assigned by party lists. The rest, in which members are directly elected in their districts, will be crucial in determining how Zelensky will try to form a government.

Without a majority, he will need to form a coalition, most likely looking to new another political force, the Gulos [Voice] party of rock-star Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.

It took 6.3 percent, crossing the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament.

The result is the culmination of a stunning turnaround in Ukrainian politics and will bring a host of new comers into parliament and government. [AFP]