Poroshenko leads presidential race with over 55% of votes - exit polls
25 May 2014, 21:20 -- Pyotr Poroshenko, a business tycoon and member of Ukraine's parliament, is winning the presidential elections in Ukraine with 55.9% of the vote, according to exit poll data, ITAR-TASS reports. His closes rival, Yulia Timoshenko, the leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, received over 12% of the vote.
The exit poll was conducted by three major sociological centers, the Ilk Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives foundation, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, and the Alexander Razumkov Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research.
Voter turnout in Ukraine's presidential election reaches 40%
Voter turnout in Sunday's snap presidential elections in Ukraine was 40.44% as of 12:00 GMT, chairperson of the Ukrainian Central Election Commission Zhanna Usenko-Chernaya cited updated data. 'These data covers all election commissions,' she said. 'Traditionally high turnout was reported from Kiev, from the Poltava, Cherkassy and Kirovohrad regions, and from Ternopol, Khmelnitsky and Lvov regions.'
She also said one more polling station was to be opened in the southeastern Donetsk regions. 'Residents of this region will be able to exercise their constitutional right and take part in the voting,' she noted.
In the previous presidential elections in Ukraine in 2010, the voter turnout as of 12:00 GMT exceeded 45%.
The largest turnout was registered in the Lvov region with 51.15 percent and slightly less in the Rovno region with 46.1 percent, in Vinnitsa with 46.71 percent, and the Khmelnitsky region with 46.61 percent.
The capital city of Kiev has a voter turnout of 42.79 percent of eligible voters who have cast their ballots, and Kharkov with 24.05 percent, Interfax reports.
Voter turnout in 182 Ukraine's districts stands at 17.52 percent at noon - CEC
The voter turnout in the Ukrainian presidential election stood at 17.52 percent as at 12 p.m. local time, according to the electronic flashboard at the Central Election Commission (CEC). The figure represents turnout in 182 out of 213 electoral districts. 'Voter activity is very high - 17.52 percent. This is much more than we predicted,' deputy head of CEC Zhanna Usenko-Chorna said at a briefing at the CEC on Sunday.
The highest turnout was registered in Kiev region (22.71 percent of voters) and slightly less in Kirovograd region (22.07 percent), Cherkassy region (21.66 percent), Khmelnitsky region (21.37 percent), Chernigov region (21.14 percent) and Poltava region (20.91 percent).
The lowest turnout was recorded in Donetsk region where only 5.48 percent of voters cast their ballots, the turnout for Lugansk region is 8.23 percent, Odessa region - 12.17 percent and the city of Kiev - 14.5 percent, Interfax reports.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry reports 19 violations during Sunday's presidential polls
About 19 violations have been registered during Sunday's presidential polls in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reports.
'By noon [local time], 19 election violations had been registered. Law enforcement bodies received nine complaints from the Donetsk region, four from the Lugansk region, two from the Zaporozhye region, and four from the Odessa, Ternopol, Kherson and Kharkov regions, one from each,' the ministry's press service said.
There were three cases of voters destroying their ballots and a bomb threat at a polling station in Kharkov, which proved to be false, it said.
A total of more than 64,000 policemen were deployed at polling districts.
Voting has been overshadowed by an acute political crisis and a large-scale military operation in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions which refuse to recognize the new Kiev authorities.
On May 11, the two regions held referendums on their status. There was a record high turnout of around 90% with around 95% of those who voted approving secession. After the referendums, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic began forming their own governments.
Polling stations open in Ukraine's snap presidential election
Polling stations opened in Ukraine at 8:00 am local time (5:00 am GMT) on Sunday in the country's snap presidential election and operate until 8:00 pm local time (5:00 pm GMT). The new president will be elected for a five year term. Under a ruling by the Constitutional Court, the next presidential election will be due in March 2019.
Representatives of the Party of Regions (led by ousted President Viktor Yanukovych), oligarchs and maidan radicals are among the 21 presidential candidates.
Batkivshchyna party leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko are the favorites, according to opinion polls.
Poroshenko is widely expected to win the first round of voting. There is no minimum turnout threshold.
The election will be declared valid irrespective of how many actually cas their vote. Preliminary results will be announced on Monday, May 26.
The vote, scheduled by the Ukrainian parliament following February's overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych, comes amid deep political crisis and large-scale military operations launched by the new Kiev authorities to crack down on protesters refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the current government.
The eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk earlier announced they would not take part in the election after the majority of their citizens voted earlier this month for self-determination as newly declared sovereign republics.
In mid-March, Ukraine's former republic of Crimea held a referendum which saw over 96 percent of voters in the region back the motion to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
A total of 23 candidates were registered to take part in the upcoming vote, but several later announced their withdraw, reducing the number to 21. According to expert estimates, there are two leading candidate in contention for the presidency; Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and nominated by Ukraine's Batkivshchyna party and Chocolate king Petro Poroshenko of the UDAR party.
Recent polls suggest that 34% of respondents said they would back Poroshenko's candidacy, with 6.5% ready to vote for Tymoshenko.
According to a Ukrainian Constitutional Court ruling, the new president will serve a five-year term.
Moscow's position on the upcoming Ukrainian presidential election will depend on the conditions and manner of their conduct, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week.
Earlier Russia called for transparency during the vote and for respect for the interests of the regions.
Ukraine's presidential election is drawing wide international attention with leading world countries sending observers to monitor the electoral process.
The country's Central Election Committee has already registered a total of 2,784 observers and 1,183 reporters from 154 media outlets. More than 730 foreign observers have already crossed the Ukrainian border, about 100 have been sent by the US government with the same coming from the European Union.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
