Ruling party appears headed for victory in Ukraine vote

Nov 1, 2010, 15:15 GMT

Kiev - Ukraine's ruling Party of Regions appeared on track to increase its hold on power, partial ballot counts showed on Monday, as international monitors praised regional elections held over the weekend.

The party not only maintained unchallenged political hegemony in the east and south of the country, but also looked set to gain control over mayor's offices and regional councils in areas formerly loyal to the opposition, according to the ballot counts and exit polls.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russia politician closely linked to big business, leads the Party of Regions.

The scale of Yanukovych's new strength was evident in the politically sensitive Kiev province, where Regions captured some 36 per cent of regional council seats, 10 points more than the closest competitor, according to a GfK exit survey.

The liberal-leaning Kiev province, consisting of bedroom communities and villages surrounding the Ukrainian capital, had been since 2004 a hotbed of Yanukovych opposition.

The race was neck-and-neck in Ukraine's third-largest city, Kharkiv, where a Regions candidate for mayor, Gennady Kerens, had received 32 per cent to 29 per cent for opposition challenger Arsen Avakov after 10 per cent of ballots were officially counted.

But Avakov's party, the opposition group Motherland, claimed their candidate was ahead by some 3,000 votes with 50 per cent of ballots tallied in an unofficial parallel count.

Opposition parties appeared clearly likely to hold onto power only in the west of the country, according to official counts of some 30 per cent of ballots there.

Mykola Tomenko, a Motherland spokesman, accused Regions of winning unfairly, telling the Unian news agency his party has evidence that would support 'more than 60 cases of criminal vote fraud.'

But international monitors on Monday praised the Ukrainian vote, saying that, despite glitches and delays, the poll appeared to have been free and fair.

'The violations (in Ukrainian election law during the Sunday vote) were non-systemic ... and are unlikely to have a meaningful effect on the proper expression of the will of the Ukrainian people,' the pro- democracy group CIS-EMO declared in a statement.

Parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvin predicted wholesale dismissals of smaller parties currently allied with Regions - particularly the Communists and the Socialists - whose alliance Regions no longer needs to dominate local legislatures across the country.

'There is going to be a purge,' Litvin told the Interfax news agency. 'Regions is going to toss its junior partners out.'