BBC News, 29
October 2012
 |
| President Yanukovych's party appears to be heading for a majority |
Related
Stories
International
observers say Ukraine's election has been a backward step for democracy, marred
by "the abuse of power and the excessive role of money".
The
statement from the regional security body OSCE came as early results pointed to
a win for President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions.
Opposition
leader and ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko remains in prison.
Mrs
Tymoshenko has announced a hunger strike in protest at alleged vote rigging and
is only drinking water.
"One
should not have to visit a prison to hear from leading political figures,"
the OSCE said.
"Considering
the abuse of power, and the excessive role of money in this election,
democratic progress appears to have reversed in Ukraine," said Walburga
Habsburg Douglas, a Swedish MP who headed the OSCE mission.
The
criticism contrasted sharply with the international observers' conclusions on
Ukraine's February 2010 presidential election, judged to have been transparent,
unbiased and an "impressive display" of democracy.
That
election was won by Mr Yanukovych, defeating Mrs Tymoshenko.
With nearly
two-thirds of votes counted, the AFP news agency says Mr Yanukovych's Party of
the Regions has 34.2% of party list votes, compared with 22.5% for Mrs
Tymoshenko's party.
The Party
of the Regions is also predicted to take 114 of 225 single-mandate seats, which
would secure a majority in the 450-seat assembly.
Turnout
Officials
said the election had passed off smoothly, with a turnout of some 45% - about
average for Ukraine.
Early
results indicated the Communists - traditional allies of Mr Yanukovych - were
in third place with about 15%.
The new
party of world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, called Udar
(Punch), was on about 13%.
The
ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party was also poised to surpass the 5%
threshold necessary to get seats in parliament. It was polling 8%, according to
the early results.
Svoboda
campaigns for the preservation of the Ukrainian language and culture and is
strongly critical of Mr Yanukovych.
The party
has been accused of racism and homophobia.
Although
its leader Oleh Tyahnybok has said Jews and Russians are occupiers in Ukraine,
Svoboda denies it is anti-Semitic.
The
opposition has alleged widespread voting irregularities.
Two
international observer missions gave much more positive assessments than the
OSCE's.
The 56
members of the European Academy for Elections Observation, most of whom are
European Parliament members, said the vote was held "in compliance with
democratic norms". They called it "a good election, not perfect but
clearly acceptable".
Observers
from the ex-Soviet countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
called the election "transparent and democratic".
'Abuse of
resources'
 |
| From her prison cell Yulia Tymoshenko has accused Mr Yanukovych of trying to establish a dictatorship |
Her bloc
says its own parallel vote count confirms that Mr Yanukovych's party is in the
lead, but with a smaller percentage of votes than the party claims.
The
complicated electoral system means a final result is some way off.
A prominent
ally of Mrs Tymoshenko, former interior minister Yuri Lutsenko, is also in
jail. He was sentenced in February 2012 to four years in prison for abuse of
office and embezzlement.
The OSCE
said the election was characterised by "the lack of a level playing field,
caused primarily by the abuse of administrative resources, lack of transparency
of campaign and party financing, and lack of balanced media coverage".
"Certain
aspects of the pre-election period constituted a step backwards compared with
recent national elections," they added.
It was the
biggest election observer mission the OSCE has ever deployed - more than 800
observers, from nearly 40 different countries.
The OSCE
said election day was generally calm and "voters had a choice between
distinct parties". Its view of the voting and counting was "mostly
positive", but result tabulation "lacked transparency", it said.
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