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Party of the Regions ahead in vote count

01 October 2007 17:28 (UTC +04:00)

A close result would again mean long talks on forming a coalition government.
Yanukovich, the presidents rival from 2004, dismissed the â€œOrangeâ€ declaration of victory as groundless. He said his party would be declared the winner when the count was complete.
Ukraineâ€™s pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko ordered an investigation into vote counting on Monday after rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich drew ahead in a parliamentary election called to end long political crisis.
The ex-Soviet stateâ€™s Western leaning â€œorangeâ€ opposition, allied to Yushchenko, had claimed victory in Sundayâ€™s election on the basis of exit polls and early returns.
But Yanukovichâ€™s Regions Party surged past the bloc of ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko with more than three quarters of the vote counted.
President Viktor Yushchenko, the prime ministerâ€™s arch rival from the time of the â€œOrange Revolutionâ€ protests that thrust him to power in 2004, ordered an immediate investigation into delays in vote counting in the prime ministerâ€™s strongholds.
â€œI am concerned by the delayed vote count in eastern and southern Ukraine,â€ a somber Yushchenko said in a televised address to the nation.
â€œI order law enforcement bodies to start an immediate investigation into the causes and circumstances of delayed vote count reports from polling stations.â€
Yushchenko did not mention any of his political adversaries by name, but warned that â€œthose who commit fraud will be punished. Do not call into question the law and your own fate.â€/APA/