Ukrainians choose MPs in early elections

The leader of Ukraine's radical Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, has won a parliament seat as an ‘individual district’ candidate, the country's Central Election Commission reported on Monday.

Yarosh ran in Dnepropetrovsk region, where he got almost 30 percent of the vote.

Ukraine’s election commission confirmed that with 92 percent of the vote counted, Yarosh led the poll.

Dnepropetrovsk region is located in south-central Ukraine. Dnepropetrovsk city is Ukraine’s fourth largest.

With half of all ballots processed, PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party is ahead of rivals with 21.61 percent of votes, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc has so far gained 21.45 percent.

The other four parties making it into the Ukrainian parliament are the Samopomosh of Lvov's Mayor Andrey Sadovy (11.10), Opposition Bloc (9.82), Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko (7.38), and Yulia Tymoshenko's party Batkivshchina (Fatherland) (5.69).

PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party and president’s Petro Poroshenko Bloc have launched negotiations on forming a coalition.

“We have recently started talks with the People’s Front”, said the head of the Poroshenko Bloc, Yury Lutsenko, as cited by RIA Novosti. “There have taken place consultations between the president and the prime minister, and there’s an expanded meeting of representatives of the two political forces planned for today."

Moscow considers the Ukrainian parliamentary elections valid, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

“We are waiting for official results, so far quite controversial information has been coming. But even now it’s clear that elections, despite quite tough and dirty campaign, have been valid,” Karasin told Interfax.

“The balance of forces that is emerging will likely allow the Ukrainian leadership to engage in thoroughly solving the core national problems,” he added.

So far, 35.17 percent of ballots have been processed, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party is leading with 21.6 percent of votes, closely followed by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc with 21.51 percent.

The other four parties making it into the Ukrainian parliament are the Samopomosh of Lvov's Mayor Andrey Sadovy (10.9), Opposition Bloc (9.77), Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko (7.47), and Yulia Tymoshenko's party Batkivshchina (Fatherland) (5.77).

The turnout at the parliamentary election in Ukraine has been 52.42 percent of those eligible to vote, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. The turnout was highest – 70 percent – in the Lvov Region, while the lowest were in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions at approximately 32 percent.

Despite the overall parliamentary vote being led by the parties of the Ukrainian president and prime minister, several regions in the southeast of the country demonstrated a different trend.

The Opposition Bloc is ahead in the Kharkov, Lugansk and Zaporozhye Regions, according to preliminary data by Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. In the Dnepropetrovsk and Donetsk Regions the Opposition Bloc is also leading the vote count in several election districts.

With a quarter of all ballots processed, PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party remains ahead of rivals with 21.69 percent of votes, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc has so far gained 21.63 percent.

The other four parties making it into the Ukrainian parliament are the Samopomosh of Lvov's Mayor Andrey Sadovy (10.55), Opposition Bloc (9.62), Radical Party of Oleg Lyashko (7.64), and Yulia Tymoshenko's party Batkivshchina (Fatherland) (5.87).

With 20.15 per cent of the ballot lists in the election counted, the People's Front of PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk is gaining momentum with 21.66 of the vote, while the Petro Poroshenko Bloc is trailing slightly behind with 21.65 percent of the vote, with only 134 votes separating them, Ukraine's CEC has announced.

The CEC also announced that four other parties have passed the 5 percent threshold. “Samopomosh” party of Lvov's mayor Anrey Sadoviy has 10.35 percent. “Opposition Bloc” has 9.91 percent, “Radical party of Oleg Lyashko” has 7.71 percent, while Yulia Tymoshenko's party “Batkivshchina” has 5.96 percent.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and US Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer in a joint statement have called the Ukrainian parliamentary elections “yet another step in Ukraine's democratic journey.”

Statement by U.S. Amb. to Ukraine Pyatt and U.S. Amb. to the OSCE Daniel Baer on Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections: http://t.co/4L2kLTjLYV

— Geoffrey Pyatt (@GeoffPyatt) October 26, 2014

“Today we were privileged to observe Ukrainian democracy in action as the nation went to the polls for the second time this year, this time voting for a new Parliament,” both said in a statement following their visit to ten polling stations in Kiev.

“The election officials, observers and citizens we encountered were eager to discuss election preparations and enthusiastic about their ability to vote, once again, for change. The atmosphere was upbeat and positive,” they said.