Viktor Yanukovych wins Ukraine presidential election - exit polls
07/02/201023:15
MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won Ukraine's presidential election with different exit polls giving him from 48.7% to 50.26%.
Yanukovych was facing Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Sunday's second round. Tymoshenko gained 44%-45.6%, exit polls said, making the gap between the candidates 3.1-6.3%. The candidate that gains a simple majority of votes wins the runoff, which does not require a minimum voter turnout.
Matias Ersi, the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegation at the election, said Sunday the election runoff was transparent and that the international community should recognize its results. Ukraine's election authorities said there were no "systemic" violations, and a Russian observer reported no falsifications either.
Ukraine's Central Election Commission said that in line with preliminary results, the voter turnout was 69%, slightly more than in the January 17 first round that saw Yanukovych gain 35.32% of the vote and Tymoshenko 25.05%.
Tymoshenko said Sunday it was too early to name the winner, and pledged to defend each vote cast for her.
"Each vote decides the destiny of Ukraine. We are fighting for each vote," she told journalists.
Both presidential contenders had previously exchanged accusations of fraud and preparations for provocative acts before the crucial runoff.
Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko, swept to power by the 2004 pro-Western street protests, gained slightly more than 5% of the vote in January's first round. His presidency has been marred by continuous political infighting and economic problems.
The pollsters whose data was used include SOCIS, GFK NOP, Savik Shuster Studio, National Exit Poll consortium and FOM-Ukraine. Each company polled from 15,000 to 20,000 voters at several hundred polling stations.
In line with exit polls, 5 to 6% of voters said "no" to all candidates.
Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov said Sunday Moscow will cooperate with any Ukrainian president.
"I am absolutely sure the Russian leadership will actively work with any president," he said.
