|
On January 17, 2010 the first round of the Presidential elections was held in Ukraine. Presidential elections 2010 impressed international democratic community with the consolidated progress achieved by Ukraine since 2004.
The international observation missions highly evaluated the elections marking the significant progress since the past, as they fulfilled most of the OSCE and Council of Europe standards. Ukraine has proven that it can hold a fair election. For example the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE short-term observers João Soares stated that this was a good and competitive election and very promising for the future of Ukraine's democracy.
The election turnout was 66.76%, which is lower compared to 75% in the first round of the 2004 poll. None of the 18 candidates was able to get 50% plus one vote necessary for a victory in the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections. The official results allow to infer that leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych (having won 35,32% of the votes) and current Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (with 25,05%) will face each other in the second round of the election that is scheduled on February 7, 2010.
Other candidates for the Presidency former Central Bank Chairman Sergiy Tigipko won 13.05%, former Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk 6.96%, President Viktor Yushchenko 5.45%, leader of the Communist party Petro Symonenko 3.54%, Chairman of the Parliament Volodymyr Lytvyn 2.35%, leader of "Svoboda" Oleh Tiahnybok 1.43%, and former Defence Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko 1.2%. Other nine presidential candidates scored below 1% of the vote. 2,2% of the voters stated absence of support to any of the candidates.
The second round of the Presidential elections in Ukraine will take place on February 7, 2010. Rukh’s President Borys Tarasyuk believes that Yulia Tymoshenko has a greater chance of winning in the second round. |