Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks during her press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, April 2, 2019. Timoshenko has accused incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of vote rigging in the first round of the March 31 presidential election, but she is not planning to challenge the results.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
The Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The candidate who placed third in the first round of Ukraine's presidential election conceded defeat Tuesday but alleged the incumbent who came in second rigged the results in his favor.
Opinion polls had shown Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who has been a fixture in Ukrainian politics for two decades, leading the race until a few months before Sunday's election.
With nearly 99% percent of ballots counted, comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy had garnered 30% of the vote. President Petro Poroshenko was next with just under 16%, while Tymoshenko received 13%.
That means that Ukraine's new president will be elected in a runoff between Zelenskiy and Poroshenko on April 21.
In her concession remarks, Tymoshenko alleged Poroshenko had manipulated the vote.
"He should not be in the runoff," she said. "He got there by cheating."
Tymoshenko did not specify what kind of election interference she thought occurred, although she had accused Poroshenko in the days before the election of buying votes.
The president responded last week by promising a democratic election, saying Ukraine had a lot at stake in monitors' views of the process.
Tymoshenko said she would not contest the election results because she thinks Poroshenko controls the courts. She refused to either Zelenskiy or Poroshenko for the runoff.
She said she and her party would now focus on the parliamentary election in the fall, which could give her a post in a new government.
"The chance we've lost in the first round of the presidential election is just one chance," Tymoshenko said. "We still have one opportunity left to bring in a dramatic change, to implement a new course, and this is the next parliamentary elections."
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Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
FILE In this file photo taken on Sunday, March 31, 2019, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures while speaking at his headquarters after the presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine. Over recent years Ukraine has suffered from an economic meltdown and alleged endemic corruption, which will be great challenges for whom ever wins the upcoming runoff presidential election in three weeks' time. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
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In this Sunday, March. 31, 2019 photo, Ukrainian comedian and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaks to the media outside a polling station, during the presidential elections in Kiev, Ukraine. Zelenskiy is used to being in the spot light, imbuing him with an easygoing manner and snappy talk on the presidential campaign trail. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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Doris Barnett, the head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA), attends a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, April 1, 2019 . Early results in Ukraine's presidential election show a comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy with no political experience maintaining his strong lead against the incumbent president in the first round, setting the stage for a runoff in three weeks. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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Iikka Kanerva, OSCE Special Co-ordinator, attends a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, April 1, 2019. Early results in Ukraine's presidential election show comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy maintaining a strong lead against the incumbent president in the first round of voting, setting the stage for a runoff vote in three weeks. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko speaks during her press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, April 2, 2019. Timoshenko has accused incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of vote rigging in the first round of the March 31 presidential election, but she is not planning to challenge the results as she believes the courts are also controlled by the president. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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FILE In this file photo taken on Friday, March 29, 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian actor and candidate in the upcoming presidential election, hosts a comedy show at a concert hall in Brovary, Ukraine. Zelenskiy has no political experience, but his easygoing manner and snappy talk on the campaign trail strongly resembled his character in âServant of the Peopleâ, a schoolteacher catapulted into the presidential seat. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
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In this Sunday, March. 31, 2019 photo, Ukrainian comedian and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrives at a polling station, during the presidential elections in Kiev, Ukraine. For many of those who cast ballots for Zelenskiy, his lack of political skills is a major advantage, a welcome break from the cast of familiar political figures associated with the countryâs woes. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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