MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Early results and exit polls combined to give an unclear picture Monday morning of who would emerge victorious from Ukraine's parliamentary elections, with at least two opposing contenders claiming victory.
With 6.5% of Sunday's vote counted, the Central Election Committee said former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's eponymous bloc was leading with 25.18%, followed by the country's largest opposition, the Party of Regions led by Viktor Yanukovich, with 22.45%, and the pro-presidential Our Ukraine Bloc with 17.58%. Then came the Communist Party (3.17%) and parliamentary speaker Volodymr Lytvyn's bloc (3.07%).
However, exit polls suggested that Yanukovych's pro-Russian party would take about a third of the vote, leaving the Our Ukraine, a Western-leaning movement supporting President Viktor Yushchenko, well behind the Tymoshenko Bloc.
Yanukovich, who lost out to Yushchenko in the re-run of the disputed 2004 presidential election, said his party was ready to form a government in cooperation with other parties after the results to the 450-seat parliament were in.
"The Party of Regions is ready to work with all political forces for Ukraine's economic revival," said Yanukovich, a prime minister under ex-President Leonid Kuchma. "We are ready to take responsibility for forming a new government."
Konstantin Zatulin, the director of Russia's Institute of CIS Studies, told ICTV, a Ukrainian television channel, that exit polls heavily favored that Yanukovich's party would take victory.
"The most unexpected result of an exit poll was the gap between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, which is in second, and the Our Ukraine Bloc, in third," Zatulin said, adding that it was about 10%, according to exit polls.
Meanwhile, Tymoshenko, whose popularity soared after her fiery speeches in the "orange revolution" of 2004, claimed victory. The former prime minister, who was appointed by Yushchenko only to be sacked months later, called for an "orange coalition" of pro-Western parties to unite to form a majority of about 250 seats in the new parliament.
Tymoshenko said leaders of the mooted coalition, comprising also Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party, would sign an agreement on the formation of the government in the morning. Our Ukraine's chief of staff Roman Bessmertny said Tymoshenko's bloc would be entitled to nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister.
"We have won and now have an absolutely clear majority in the new parliament to form the government," Tymoshenko said, adding that the mooted coalition was expected to get 257 seats in the parliament.
