Residents of Ukraine's capital voted Sunday in a mayoral election whose 70 candidates included a former boxing champion and two officials who scuffled scandalously after an argument earlier this year.
Lurking between the lines on Kiev's meter-long (yard-long) ballot was the simmering confrontation between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - the on-again, off-again allies who led the Orange Revolution together but are at odds two years before a presidential vote.
The most prominent candidates were, in order of their chances according to recent polls: incumbent Leonid Chernovetsky; former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitaly Klitschko; Tymoshenko ally Oleksandr Turchynov; and the candidate from Yushchenko's party, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko.
Parliament called the early election after Tymoshenko accused Chernovetsky, who has been dogged by corruption allegations, of illegally selling highly profitable land and withholding revenue from the national budget. Chernovetsky denied it.
A win for Turchynov would be a boost for the prime minister, who has vied for power and popularity with Yushchenko since they led the protests that ushered him to power in 2004. Both are pro-Western and their parties formed a governing coalition last year, but confrontations have shown the coalition to be fragile.
Yushchenko had to cancel his annual state-of-the-nation address in parliament this month after members of Tymoshenko allies blocked the speaker's chair. Tymoshenko recently accused Yushchenko of trying to undermine her before the 2010 presidential election.
Tymoshenko suffered a setback when Yushchenko blocked her initiative to hold a run-off between the two top mayoral candidates if no one receives a majority of the votes cast. Analysts say Chernovetsky, who is closer to Yushchenko than to Tymoshenko, would have little chance in a run-off but could secure a plurality of the vote Sunday because of his popularity among pensioners.
His chief challenger was Klitschko, a national hero who is scheduled to try to regain his boxing championship this fall. Focusing for now on his political rematch against Chernovetsky, who defeated him in the 2006 mayoral election, Klitschko has promised to fight corruption and end chaotic construction practices.
In a what was seen as a bid by Chernovetsky to hurt Klitschko's chances, a nonprofit organization arranged a three-day music festival outside the city as part of celebrations of Kiev Day, which coincided with the vote, promising free tickets for young people, who form the boxer's power base.
A quirky billionaire banker and ex-lawmaker, Chernovetsky has raised eyebrows with initiatives to test subordinates' honesty using lie detectors and force migrant workers out of the capital to give more opportunity to local residents.
His image was marred by a scrap with his longtime foe Lutsenko in January.
Chernovetsky accused Lutsenko of punching him in the face and groin after an argument during a government agency meeting. Lutsenko said he slapped Chernovetsky's face but contends the mayor initiated the fight by publicly defaming him and kicking him in the knee, AP reported.