Pro-western blocs set to win in Ukraine
Ukraine pro-western blocs set to win
Updated 16 minutes ago
Exit polls at Ukrainian voting booths indicate that pro-Western parties will dominate the parliament in the wake of February’s revolution.
As votes are counted, President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc is expected win the most, with PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party a close second.
Members of a local electoral commission count ballots at a polling station in Kyiv.
Photo: AFP
Mr Poroshenko called an early poll in a bid to set Ukraine on a new path after the ousting of pro-Russian leaders.
About 3 million people in two eastern regions ravaged by conflict did not vote.
Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions plan to hold their own polls next month.
Another 1.8 million people in Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, also did not take part.
The vote also comes amid an energy crisis, with Russia cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine in June in a dispute over unpaid bills.
Ukraine’s economy is collapsing, with GDP forecast to fall between 7 and 10 percent this year.
Two exit polls published immediately after voting ended showed Mr Poroshenko’s bloc, comprising his own Solidarity Party and Udar, led by boxer Vitali Klitschko, leading with about 23 percent.
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