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Ukraine President Takes Drug Test Before Debating Comedian in 70,000-Seater Stadium

rferl.org
Zelensky, a comedian with no political experience who played the role of the country's President on a sitcom for three years, is the frontrunner in the race after winning the first round of voting.
A drug and alcohol test was one of his conditions for taking part in a debate with Petro Poroshenko, as the incumbent seeks to make up ground ahead of the run-off on April 21, CNN reports. 
Poroshenko, who has been in his post since 2014, agreed to the stipulation, live-streaming his test on Facebook. "We are creating new traditions," he said as his blood was taken, according to Agence France-Presse.
Reporters watched on a television screen as the test took place in another room at Kiev's Olympic Stadium, where the debate is set to take place -- as per another of Zelensky's demands.
The initial results came back negative, doctors said. Zelensky took his own test at a private clinic, after refusing Poroshenko's offer to take them together.
"I had my blood drawn, they drained me of all my blood. There's a lot of it, my young blood," the comedian told reporters, in an apparent joke at his challenger's age.

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