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Pro-Western Blocs Expected To Secure Ukraine Election Win

October 26, 2014
by RFE/RL

Exit polls suggest pro-Western parties will dominate Ukraine's parliament following snap elections.

President Petro Poroshenko called the early poll in a bid to set Ukraine on a new path eight months after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted following opposition protests.

Poroshenko's bloc is expected to win the most seats with 23 percent of the vote, closely followed by the People's Front party led by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Samopomich, a pro-European party based in western Ukraine, is seen in third.

According to the Central Election Commission, preliminary turnout results are just above 51 percent.

In a statement published on the presidential website, Poroshenko thanked voters for backing a 'democratic, reformist, pro-Ukrainian, and pro-European majority.'

He also said Ukrainians showed they back his plan to end the conflict in the country's east.

Four other parties are expected to pass 5 percent threshold needed to enter the Verkhovna Rada: the Opposition Bloc, which was joined by many members of Yanukovych's Party of Regions, the Radical Party led by populist Oleh Lyashko, Svoboda, and Batkivshchina (Fatherland).

For the first time since Ukraine became independent, the Communist Party is not expected to enter parliament.

Preliminary official results are expected on October 27.

About 5 million voters located in Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, and in separatist-controlled areas of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk did not take part in the elections.

Poll officials said 15 out of 32 district election commissions in those two regions would not be operating.

As a result, 27 seats in the 450-seat parliament will be left vacant.

Earlier in the day, the president made a surprise election day visit to Kramatorsk. Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels fought over the city in the country's east during the last seven months, and is now under government control.

After casting his ballot in Kyiv, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said a governing coalition will have to be formed 'as quickly as possible' following the elections.

'This is to be a very pro-reform and pro-European, smart, and even tough coalition. Because the new government, together with the new parliament, is to pass a number of austerity packages, and a number of reforms that are not easy for the people in a short-term perspective,' Yatsenyuk said.

The Opposition Bloc's leader, Yuriy Boyko, described the elections as the dirtiest in the country's history.

Lyashko described the elections as a 'very important event in our lives.'

'We have a unique opportunity for the first time to get a Ukrainian parliament, which would lead Ukraine to Europe and towards NATO.'

Dark Clouds To The Silver Lining

Polls show a majority of Ukrainians support economic and democratic reforms -- especially a crackdown on corruption -- leading eventually to membership in the European Union.

But the conflict in eastern Ukraine has cast a shadow over the elections.

A cease-fire signed in September has ended much of the fighting, but daily violations of the truce in several places continue to cause casualties among government forces, the rebels, and civilians.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said 10 soldiers had been injured in fighting, despite the cease-fire, since October 24.

More than 3,700 people have been killed in the conflict and hundreds of thousands of others have fled their homes.

Many of those people are living in other parts of Ukraine but are not registered to vote in those new places of residence.

Leaders of the pro-Russian insurgents in Donetsk and Luhansk have said they will hold elections to their so-called 'people's republics' on November 2 to elect separate parliaments.

Kyiv, the United States, and several other countries have said the elections are illegitimate and will not be recognized.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Central Election Commission said on October 25 that its website had come under cyberattack, but denied Russian media reports that the electronic vote-counting system was inoperable.

The commission said it had prepared beforehand for the denial-of-service attack on its website.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-elects-new-parliament/26656658.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.