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Pro-European parties' win confirmed in Ukraine elections

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IANS
Last Updated : Oct 28 2014 | 6:15 AM IST

Kiev, Oct 28 (IANS/EFE) Monday's tally of preliminary results from parliamentary elections in Ukraine confirmed a decisive victory for pro-European parties.

With nearly 60 percent of the votes counted from Sunday's balloting, the Popular Front, led by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, had garnered 21.69 percent of the ballots.

Close behind the Popular Front was the bloc that has coalesced around the country's current president, Petro Poroshenko, with 21.63 percent of the votes.

Analysts said that result should facilitate formation of either a parliamentary or governmental alliance that would allow Ukrainians to address issues overshadowing their country's future from a present already burdened by a grueling economic crisis and conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

"They are just starting negotiations with the Popular Front. Already there have been consultations between the president and prime minister," Yuriy Lutsenko, the presidential bloc's leader, told reporters.

Lutsenko expected that a meeting with representatives of other political parties that won seats in the new legislature would be held shortly.

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The politician said that his formation has invited the heads of Maidan People's Union (the mass protest movement that deposed former president Viktor Yanukovych), the Samopomich, or Self Reliance party, and the Batkivshchyna, or All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party to join the negotiations.

As of Monday, Samopomich, the party headed by Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovy, had 11.2 percent of the votes, while Batkivshchyna, headed by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, stood at 5.65 percent.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, gave its seal of approval.

"The parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place in line with democratic standards. The authorities managed to hold the elections in almost all the country," OSCE Special Coordinator Kent Harstedt said in a statement Monday.

The Swedish MP said that the elections came at a crucial moment for the future of Ukraine, its institutions, and voters. He also stressed that the process of voting and counting were properly organized.

"The elections were fair, transparent and the rights of voters are respected. Those who are elected to parliament must assume responsibility and introduce key reforms to prevent negative situations that took place in the past," he added.

--IANS/EFE

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First Published: Oct 28 2014 | 6:04 AM IST

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