(upd) The Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front, party of Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovy Samopomich, Opposition Bloc, Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party, nationalists Svoboda and Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna get into the parliament according to the results of exit polls, Kyivpost reports.
National exit poll:
- Bloc of Petro Poroshenko – 23 percent;
- Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front – 21.3 percent;
- Samopomich – 13.2 percent;
- Opposition Bloc – 7.6 percent;
- Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party – 6.4 percent;
- Svoboda – 6.3 percent;
- Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna – 5.6 percent;
- Civil Position – 3.5 percent;
- Communist Party – 2.9 percent;
- Serhiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine – 2.6 percent.
Those that did not make it to Verkhovna Rada are Civil Position party, headed by former defense minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko, and, surprisingly, Sergiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine.
For the first time in 23 years of independent Ukraine’s history, Communist Party is also out, which makes it historical elections for the young democratic state. Communists, however, may still have few deputies elected in single mandate constituencies.
Unexpectedly, the party of Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy Samopomich outperformed Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party and got the third place, according to exit polls.
More than 40 percent of voters showed up at election precincts around the country as of 4 p.m., Central Election Commission reported. So far, the highest voter turnout has been recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk region where more than 48 percent of voters took part in the election. In comparison, close to 25 percent of voters showed up at the polling stations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, partially under control of Russia-supported militants. In eastern regions controlled by the army, soldiers armed with automatic rifles and wearing bulletproof jackets guarded polling stations under the yellow and blue Ukrainian flag.
There was no voting in areas held by pro-Russian rebels who will underline their autonomy with a separate leadership election on Nov. 2.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported nearly 161 violations during the voting in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada as of 2. a.m.
“In particular, there were 14 cases of bribery of voters, 12 reports about precincts being mined, 10 cases of administrative abuse, seven incidents with dissemination of false information, and four cases of damage of bulletins,” – said the statement. Besides, police investigates the loss of official stamp by the local election commission chair.
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Only a handful of the 29 parties running are expected to reach the 5 percent level required to enter parliament. Only 423 of the 450 seats will be elected as voting did not take place in some parts of Crimea and the east.
President Petro Poroshenko went to a town in Donetsk region held by the army to show support for troops in the east. A loose political grouping that backs Poroshenko is expected to become the leading force in the assembly, giving him a mandate to pursue his peace plan for the east and carry out deep reforms sought by Ukraine’s European Union partners.
Poroshenko’s forces may not win an outright majority in voting on party lists and individual constituencies, but he should be able to form a coalition with partners such as Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk‘s People’s Front as most big parties are pro-European, anti-Russian and favor a united Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a provocative installation ПТН-ПНХ (contraction Putin, f*ck away) has been mounted near the campaign office of the Radical Party leaded by Oleh Lyashko. “They are standing drinks here,” Belarusian journalist Pavel Sheremet said on Twitter.
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Lyashko’s party may come second after Poroshenko’s bloc, pre-election polls said.
Voting is scheduled to end at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) with exit polls to be released almost immediately. Results are expected to take some hours to compile.
www.belsat.eu/en, following Kyivpost, Reuters
