Ukraine Rivals Set for Tense Election Result

Ukraine was braced last night for a tense denouement to its latest attempt to resolve a political stalemate after voters went to the polls in an early parliamentary election.

Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, was poised to win the biggest share of the vote. Opinion polls suggested his Party of the Regions would emerge as the biggest in parliament. But it was not immediately clear whether this would be enough to defeat his rival Viktor Yushchenko - Ukraine's pro-western president.

Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine alliance has been trailing in the polls. But he has reconciled with Yulia Tymoshenko, his former prime minister and erstwhile ally in the 2004 "Orange" revolution, whom he fired in 2005. Together the two could still win control of parliament, in which case Ms Tymoshenko would become prime minister again. "I think that the elections will bring Ukraine mutual understanding and tolerance between political forces, stability and economic growth," Mr Yushchenko said yesterday after casting his ballot in Kiev.

But despite his plea for tolerance there seems little doubt that Ukraine faces weeks of drawn out negotiations and bickering over its next government. There is also the real possibility of legal challenges to the result.

All sides hinted yesterday that their rivals might have been guilty of electoral fraud. "We have evidence that other parties have been trying to manipulate exit polls. They have organised a carousel at certain polling stations," Yuriy Miroshnichenko, a spokesman for the Party of the Regions, said.

Our Ukraine complained that voter lists were out of date. Many dead people were still on the list while 18-years-olds, more likely to vote for the Orange parties, had not been included on the register, party workers complained.

Political experts described yesterday's election as largely free and fair. "There is a problem with voters' lists. But I don't think it will greatly influence the result," Natalya Shapovalova, a researcher at Kiev's International Centre for Policy Studies told the Guardian.

This election was in contrast to Ukraine's 2004 presidential election, which Mr Yanukovich won using electoral fraud and intimidation - sparking the Orange revolution, Ms Shapovalova said. Mr Yushchenko won the re-run vote.

Yesterday workmen were taking down a big stage in Kiev's independence square, the scene of demonstrations during the Orange revolution. There were few signs of political activity. Some voters expressed frustration at politics. Ukraine last went to the polls in 2006.

Mr Yushchenko called this election in April, after dissolving parliament and accusing Mr Yanukovich of trying to stage a parliamentary coup. "I'm fed up with constant elections. Everybody has lost interest in them," Valentina Kirpichenko, 80, said, sitting on a bench next to a city fountain.

Backstory

Ukraine has been paralysed by a power struggle between President Viktor Yushchenko and the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich. In April Mr Yanukovich persuaded 11 deputies from the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party to join his ruling coalition. Critics claim the MPs were bribed. The manoeuvre brought Mr Yanukovich close to the two-thirds majority needed to veto any presidential decree. The president responded by dissolving parliament.