Poroshenko wins Ukrainian presidential election

Ukraine's chocolate king Petro Poroshenko has won the presidential election in the first round with 54.7 percent of the vote, the country's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced Thursday.

The CEC will declare Poroshenko president-elect by June 4, when the original protocols from district election commissions with wet seals will be received, Xinhua reported.

Poroshenko is expected to be sworn-in between June 8 and 10.

The 48-year-old businessman beat ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who garnered 12.81 percent of the vote, and Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko, with 8.32 percent, in the May 25 poll.

The three frontrunners were followed by head of the Civil Position party Anatoly Grytsenko and former deputy prime minister Sergey Tigipko, who received 5.48 percent and 5.23 percent respectively.

Poroshenko, a wealthy businessman and independent politician, was the pre-poll favourite.

He is a former minister of trade and head of the council that runs the national bank. Known as the "Chocolate King," he controls a large confectionery group called Roshen.

Born in the small town of Bolgrad in the southern Odessa region to the family of an agricultural engineer, Poroshenko studied law and international relations at Kiev State University before the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

After his graduation, Poroshenko started a small business, selling a new product in the market of the post-Soviet Ukraine -- cocoa beans. After a few years, he expanded his business, purchasing chocolate factories in northwest Ukraine and in Russia.

In 2013, his fortune was estimated by Forbes at $1.3 billion.

Poroshenko first appeared in the Ukrainian political arena in the late 1990s, joining the Social-Democratic party, loyal to then President Leonid Kuchma.

He is also known as one of the "founding fathers" of Solidarnost, a political party which later became the Party of Regions headed by ousted president Viktor Yanukovych.

Poroshenko and his wife, Marina, who is a medical doctor, have two sons and two daughters.

Poroshenko pledged to sell all his businesses if elected and end the tension in eastern Ukraine, where protesters demand independence from Kiev and closer ties with Russia.

He also vowed to initiate early parliamentary elections in Ukraine before the end of this year, intensify efforts to harmonise his country's relationship with Moscow, while continuing the course towards European Union membership.

More than 60 percent of the total 35.5 million Ukrainian eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday's election.

The early election was called three months after Viktor Yanukovych was ousted as president in February and fled to Russia.