Orange Party on Verge of Victory in Ukraine

Ukraine's populist orange leader Yulia Tymoshenko was on the verge of a spectacular comeback last night after exit polls from yesterday's parliamentary elections showed she was on course to become the country's prime minister.

The polls suggested that Ms Tymoshenko's party won 32.4% of the vote, just behind the current prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, whose Party of the Regions was projected to win 34.9%.

Although Mr Yanukovich won a bigger proportion of the votes, Ms Tymoshenko is likely to return to power at the head of an orange coalition with Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-western president. Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc polled 14.1% of the vote, exit polls suggested.

Last night's provisional results appeared to mark a remarkable recovery for the charismatic Ms Tymoshenko, who was sacked as prime minister in 2005 by President Yushchenko.

The two former allies, who led the 2004 orange revolution, were reconciled before yesterday's election.

Last night Ms Tymoshenko called the result a "wonderful victory". During a party at the Hyatt hotel in the capital, Kiev, she said: 'The victory for democratic forces is final. We will work to carry on the ideas of the orange revolution." Ms Tymoshenko said she would approach the president today to discuss forming a new government. Its priorities would include reforming Ukraine's visa regime, joining the World Trade Organization and maintaining good relations with Russia.

Mr Yanukovich's Party of Regions refused to concede defeat. "We have a significant edge over the second-place runner in the polls," Boris Kolesnikov, a party leader, said last night.

Despite all sides hinting at electoral fraud, there seems little doubt that Ukraine is back in the hands of progressive pro-western parties. This is unlikely to please Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who last year turned off Ukraine's gas supply. Ms Tymoshenko is likely to have irked the Kremlin further by taking a congratulatory telephone call last night from Georgia's pro-western president Mikheil Saakashvili. Ms Tymoshenko said that under her leadership Ukraine would have "well-balanced and friendly relations" with Russia. It would also ensure the proper supply of natural gas to Ukraine and Europe, she said.

Natalya Shapovalova, a researcher at Kiev's International Center for Policy Studies, told the Guardian: "My view is that Tymoshenko will be the next prime minister of Ukraine." But she said disagreements were likely between the coalition allies over policy.

Some voters, meanwhile, expressed frustration at the hyperactive pace of Ukraine's election cycle. Ukrainians last went to the polls last year. "I'm fed up with constant elections," said Valentina Kirpichenko, 80. She described all politicians as crooks. "They take all the good bits of meat out of the borsch," she observed.

Back story

Ukraine has been paralyzed 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.