Early parliamentary elections have been held in Ukraine amid on-going crisis in the country’s southeast. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics have refused to take part.
27 October 2014
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.
Voting in Ukraine's elections has ended at all international polling stations, with the last one closing in San Francisco, California. In the US, 2582 Ukrainians were registered to vote but only 5 percent participated. Outside Ukraine, 112 polling stations served Ukrainians in 72 countries.
With 5.05 per cent of the ballot lists in the nation-wide vote counted, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc is leading with 21.97 percent of the vote, while the People's Front of PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk is gaining momentum with 21.74 of the vote, Ukraine's CEC has announced.
A total of seven political parties are expected to be represented in Ukraine’s Parliament – Verkhovna Rada. Half of the seats in the 450 member parliament will be filled by the leading blocs, while the other half will be filled by candidates running in single-member constituencies.
26 October 2014
Polling stations across Ukraine closed at 8pm local time (6pm GMT).
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has cast his vote in Kiev. Speaking at the voting station, Poroshenko expressed confidence he will be able to form "a powerful, pro-European and pro-Ukranian democratic coalition."
Ukraine’s Central Election Committee says the turnout from 58 electoral districts is at 40.42 percent, as of 4pm local time. The highest voter turnout was in the west of the country, with 49.57 percent going to the polls in the Lvov Region, and a turnout of 48.69 percent in Ivano-Frankivsk. Meanwhile the lowest turnouts were in the south and east, with just 23.16 percent deciding to vote in the Lugansk Region, 27.69 percent in the Donetsk Region and 28.84 percent in the Odessa Region. There are a total of 198 congressional districts in Ukraine.
Voting polls are open for national Ukrainian military forces in Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, however polls are closed in the Ebola-infected Liberia, Ukraine’s deputy Defense Minister said, as cited by Interfax-Ukraine.
The turnout at all 198 districts in Ukraine as of 12pm local time was about 20 percent, according to the website of the Central Electoral Commission. The highest turnout was in Kirovogradskaya Region at over 26 percent, while the lowest in Zakarpattya Region was a little over 17 percent. In Kiev the turnout was at nearly 22 percent.
Donetsk residents mark the 'Day of National Unity' as the rest of Ukraine go to the polls for the country's parliamentary elections.
Hundreds turned out for traditional song, dance and food, with the theme of the event based on Donbass' cultural and ethnic diversity, Ruptly reports. The event was attended by representatives of different communities in the region, among them Greek, Georgian, Belarusian, and Armenian peoples.
The self-proclaimed leaders of Lugansk and Donetsk plan to hold their own parliamentary elections on November 2.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed what he called the "record turnout" for Sunday's parliamentary elections during his visit to Kramatorsk, Ruptly reports.
The president noted that many areas in the east of the country would have the opportunity to take part in the elections after militia fighters were pushed out from parts of the area.
Poroshenko said his main reason for travelling to the east of the country was to ensure the "voting rights of people in uniform" who are deployed there. Earlier in the day he inspected a polling station in Kramatorsk before touring the frontline defences of the Ukrainian army.
Shooting has been reported in Krivoy Rog near a local election commission, according to TASS citing Ukrainian media. A car was shelled and two people inside were reportedly seriously injured. Police have said the incident has nothing to do with politics or the elections.
Darth Vader banned from voting: asked to take off mask at polling station, he refused, they didn't give him a ballot #UkraineVotes
— Irina Galushko (@IrinaGalushkoRT) October 26, 2014
PHOTO: Darth Vader at polling station during parliamentary elections in #Ukraine; LIVE UPDATES http://t.co/VQolrn5WZMpic.twitter.com/PN7oRkKDQP
— RT (@RT_com) October 26, 2014
The head of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Mikhail Okhendovsky, hopes the newly-elected MPs will be able to amend the electoral law in a way that would allow rerun elections in those parts of the Donetsk and the Lugansk Regions which aren’t participating in the voting.
“The CEC can establish a fact of voting not taking place in certain election districts, but unfortunately this cannot become a ground for holding rerun elections in those areas,” Okhendovsky told journalists at a news briefing.
President Poroshenko visited Kramatorsk, a town in the Donetsk Region, which used to be one of the main strongholds of the anti-government forces in eastern Ukraine until the beginning of July, when pro-Kiev military units took it under control.
Президент у день виборів відвідав Краматорськ, 26 жовтня 2014 року (фотогалерея) http://t.co/6WO6l4Xhrnpic.twitter.com/42je3Dwd13
— APU (@APUkraine) October 26, 2014
Voter turnout by noon local time is estimated at 12 percent, according to the website of the Ukrainian Central Election Commission. The turnout figures have so far been only submitted by four election districts.
Maryna Poroshenko, the wife of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, cast her vote for the nation's early parliamentary elections at a Kiev polling station on Sunday.
Radical Party leader Oleh Valeriovich Lyashko, alongside his wife Rosiat Sayranen, casts his vote at a Kiev polling station for the Ukrainian parliamentary elections.
President Petro Poroshenko is, according to his wife, in the southeast of Ukraine, supervising voting in those areas of the Donetsk and the Lugansk Regions which are under Kiev’s control.
“My husband is in Donbass now, he went there to see for himself the way voting is taking place there, so that all people in the east can express their will and vote: both civilians on the liberated territories and the military, who are currently on the front line,” Marina Poroshenko said, as cited by TASS.
WATCH NOW: Polls open in Kiev as parliamentary elections begin #UkraineVoteshttps://t.co/FaNz6NwD4g
— Ruptly Newsroom (@RuptlyNewsroom) October 26, 2014
Security concerns have led to polling stations being closed in the town of Schastie, Lugansk Region, TV channel ‘112 Ukraine’ reported. Schastie is among the territories under control of the pro-Kiev forces and it was supposed to take part in the elections.
Only four out of 11 electoral districts in the Lugansk Region have thus opened their polling stations on Sunday.
Some 84,400 law enforcers are providing security at the Ukrainian parliamentary elections, according to the Interior Ministry. Around 5,000 of them are a backup force, which will be deployed in case of an emergency situation.
Voting underway in Kiev @Ruptly#elections#Rada#Ukrainepic.twitter.com/JFbKrQhN5V
— Katica Djurovic (@zoontangmarg) October 26, 2014
An election district in the Dnepropetrovsk Region received 20,000 ballots with mistakes on them – the wrong numbers of polling stations.
“Defective ballots should be handed over to the Central Election Commission,” a coordinator of the ‘Opora’ election programs, Sergey Fedko told TASS.
Currently the ballots are in a sealed room to prevent violations. Local election officials fear there’ll be a shortage of ballots as a result.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the SBU, has created websites where voters can post photo and video evidence of election violations.
The agency’s press service promises the SBU will quickly react to reports of “violations at polling stations, attempts to destabilize the situation, to hamper the expression of free will, interfere in election committees work.”
The websites’ internet addresses have been made available at Ukrainian intelligence’s official webpage.
Polling stations have opened across Ukraine and people will be able to cast their ballots for the next 12 hours. The nation is choosing from 29 political forces and 6,436 MP hopefuls. The first preliminary results are due on Monday. The final results are expected to be made public by October 30.