Ukraine faces a run-off vote next month between opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich and populist Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko after a presidential election produced no outright winner, early official results showed today.
The election will define how Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 46 million people wedged between the European Union and Russia, handles relations with its powerful neighbours, and may help unblock frozen IMF aid for its ailing economy.
With more than 80 per cent of the ballots counted from yesterday's poll, Mr Yanukovich had a strong lead with 35.76 per cent, well under the more than 50 percent needed for outright victory, the Central Election Commission said. Ms Tymoshenko had 24.72 per cent.
The results set up what could be a close contest, though analysts say Ms Tymoshenko should pick up more votes from defeated first round candidates, while Mr Yanukovich will have to fight hard to extend his appeal beyond his support base in the Russian-speaking east of the country.
Ms Tymoshenko (49), helped lead the pro-western Orange Revolution against Yanukovich's rigged 2004 presidential election victory and is most popular in the European-leaning west of the country.
She hailed the voting pattern as proof that Mr Yanukovich, a 59-year-old former mechanic, had no chance in the second round on February 7th and called for talks with eliminated candidates.
"As of today I am ready for talks so that we can move forward with uniting the democratic forces," she told reporters yesterday.
Traders of the hryvnia currency took the election in their stride and said the market would be calm because the results of the poll were expected. A holiday in the United States would also dampen the volume of trades, dealers said.
Ms Tymoshenko, meanwhile, rushed to Luhansk in the east of the country after oxygen tanks exploded in a hospital, her press service said. Five people were killed in the incident emergency officials said.
All eyes were on the team of international election monitors, including a large party from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was to hand down its verdict on the poll later today.
Ms Tymoshenko, before the poll, had accused the Yanukovich camp of preparing large-scale fraud. The Central Election Commission (CEC) said it had received reports of minor irregularities but these would not have a significant impact on the result.
Two candidates who came third and fourth, former central bank chief Sergey Tigipko and former parliament speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said they would not come out in support of any candidate in the second round.
An aide to Ms Tymoshenko, who amassed a fortune in her years in the gas industry, said her camp hoped to meet Mr Tigipko - who has so far won 13.08 per cent of the vote - in the next few days.
Both leading candidates have pledged to seek better relations with neighbouring energy supplier Russia, in part to avoid the rows of recent years which led to supply cut-offs affecting parts of Europe.
Voters punished incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko, one of the architects of the Orange Revolution, for the country's political in-fighting. Election results gave him about 6 per cent.
Mr Yanukovich's Party of the Regions is allied to the Kremlin's United Russia party but he has been careful to avoid appearing as Moscow's stooge this time around.
He has called for a strong, independent Ukraine following a neutral path and not joining Nato or any other group. He attacked Mr Yushchenko for excessively confrontational policies towards Russia, and says Ukraine's real enemy is poverty.
He was tarnished by a scandal in 2004, when he initially claimed victory in an election tainted by allegations of fraud and was subsequently swept aside by the Orange Revolution that brought Mr Yushchenko to power.
Although Ms Tymoshenko initially had stormy relations with Russia, she has tried to patch up her links with the Kremlin of late.
Reuters