KIEV, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's ruling Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yanukovych, took lead in the parliamentary elections with 60.17 percent of the vote counted, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday.
According to the CEC, the Party of Regions secured 34.27 percent of the vote while "Fatherland" Party of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came off second best with 22.46 percent of the vote.
The Ukrainian Communist Party and the "Punch" Party led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitchko behaved as expected with garnering 14.73 and 11.97 percent of the ballots respectively.
The National Patriotic Party "Freedom" was unexpected to gain 8.68 percent of the vote, as pre-election polls did not predict it would gain the 5 percent necessary to enter the next parliament.
Also on the same day, CEC Chairman Volodymyr Shapoval said Sunday's parliamentary elections in Ukraine proceeded smoothly.
"The seventh parliamentary polls concluded successfully and nothing unexpected happened during the elections," Shapoval told the press conference.
Meanwhile, he told reporters the voter turnout of the elections was 57.99 percent.
The Ukrainian parliamentary elections, which were held on Sunday, were conducted under a mixed system, with 225 members of parliament elected on party lists and the remaining 225 in single-seat constituencies.
According to the CEC, a total of 21 political parties and some 3,000 candidates were contesting the 450 seats in the country's supreme legislative body.
The CEC will announce the final election results within 15 days and the final preliminary results will be announced within three days.
KIEV, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine will see some political stability after its parliamentary elections, as the ruling Party of Regions is expected to maintain its majority in the 450-seat assembly, a Ukrainian expert said on Monday.
The general "picture of the election is clear," said Andrey Ermolaev, head of Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview with Xinhua. He predicted that the Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yanukovych, would retain its leading position any way. Full story
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