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Ukraine election: back to the future?

Other News Materials 1 October 2007 21:20 (UTC +04:00)

( RT ) - With more than 80 per cent of the votes counted, there's more than a touch of deja vu about the results so far from Ukraine's latest parliamentary election. Yulia Timoshenko's Orange bloc and the pro-Russia Party of Regions, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, are practically neck and neck.

Five parties have so far crossed the 3% threshold, and will hold seats in the next parliament.

The leader of the Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovich, says he will begin talks to form a coalition government as soon as the final results are announced.

"The vote count still continues. But all exit polls indicate the Party of Regions is a clear winner. After the official results are announced we intend to start negotiations with other political forces on the possibility of forming a coalition with them," Mr Yanukovich commented.

Yulia Timoshenko is also planning to create a coalition of her own.

"I plan to approach President Yushchenko and propose forming a coalition and then start forming a new government. I hope this time we will be able to create a normal working alliance in one or two weeks. But the make-up of the coalition is already clear," she said.

Several voting irregularities have already been registered. The authorities say they are looking in particulary at cases where voters have allegedly been bribed.

In the city of Dniepropetrovsk in Eastern Ukraine, one of the heads of the election committee was allegedly caught with a bunch of blank voting cards.

But the Central Election Committee says there is nothing to worry about. Intenational observers tend to agree, saying that in general the election has been free and fair.

The Presidential administration in Kiev says it's concerned about the vote count in Eastern Ukraine. While regions in western and central Ukraine have already counted more than 80% of the votes, in Eastern Ukraine only about 30% have been tallied.

Since eastern regions traditionally support the Party of Regions, this means there could be a late surge of support for Yanukovich before the final result is announced.

In Eastern Ukraine the situation is very quiet. Voter turnout has been lower there than in many other parts of Ukraine.

"People are tired of the political crisis which always leads to social and political instability. This is why it is so quiet now. The main thing is that the election does not really change the current situation. The inactive parliament dismissed by the President is not coming back into power. Neither coalition gets 300 seats in the parliament which means that the situation we get is the same as the one we had before. According to Ukraine's constitution, a coalition needs 300 seats to make any major state decisions" says Tatyana Nagornyak, political analyst.

The Party of regions is still promising a rally in Kiev.

More than 50,000 people supporting various parties were reported to be arriving in the capital on Monday afternoon. At least 10,000 of them are expected to attend a rally of the Party of Regions on Independence Square later on this evening.

The official results of the elections are due on Monday evening.

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