WORLD_ UKRAINE_ Ukraine elections: Presidential poll expected to endorse pro-Western candidate

Ukraine elections: Presidential poll expected to endorse pro-Western candidate

Updated 18 minutes ago 
ABC NEWS

Ukrainians are voting in a presidential election set to resoundingly endorse the overthrow of their last elected leader in favour of candidates promising close ties with the West in defiance of Russia.

Early signs point to a high turnout, but the absence of more than 15 per cent of the electorate, in Russian-annexed Crimea and two eastern regions where fighting with pro-Moscow rebels continues, may mar any result.

It may also leave the Kremlin questioning the victor's legitimacy despite president Vladimir Putin's new pledge to respect the people's will.

Voting will continue for 12 hours, before exit polls will indicate a result ahead of an official outcome on Monday.

Many voters in the east have found polling stations shut. European election monitors largely pulled out of the Donetsk region for their own safety, citing a campaign of "terror" by pro-Russian separatists against Ukrainian electoral officials.

In the latest violence, an Italian journalist and a Russian colleague were killed in fighting near the eastern town of Slaviansk.

Polls suggest a billionaire confectionery magnate is the overwhelming favourite. The biggest question is whether Petro Poroshenko can take more than 50 per cent to win in a single round.

He was a strong backer of the protests against Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych and has sought a quick victory by warning that new unrest might prevent a second round of voting.

His closest but distant rival is Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister. She remains a divisive figure as she is more closely linked with the economic failures and corruption that have blighted 23 years of Ukraine independence.

As Mr Yanukovych's fiercest rival, she may benefit from the fact that few of the 5 million voters in his eastern powerbase regions of Donetsk and Luhansk may be able to cast ballots for any of the 21 candidates.

Interim prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk says the act of voting will be a victory, handing the new president a mandate to forge closer ties with the European Union.

This will move Ukraine away from a "grey zone of lawlessness and dark forces that dream of suffocating us and into ... a place where it is easier to breathe", he said.

Putin says he will respect result

Western states backed those who took power when Mr Yanukovych fled to Russia three months ago after street protests triggered by his rejection of a free trade pact with the EU.

They hope a mandate for a new leader can help resolve a confrontation with Russia that has sparked military build-ups east and west of Ukraine and raised fears of a new Cold War.

Mr Putin pledged on Saturday to "respect" the people's choice and work with Ukraine's new administration in a conciliatory move during an economic forum where he acknowledged that US and EU sanctions over Ukraine were hurting the Russian economy.

But he defended his annexation of Crimea in March as a response to the democratic will of the majority ethnic Russian population there.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of a propaganda war to sow fear among Russian-speakers in eastern and southern Ukraine of "fascist" Ukrainian nationalists and of supporting rebel forces who have seized many towns in the east.

Two weeks ago separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums which they said would let them break from Kiev, opening a way to possibly following Crimea into union with Russia.

Moscow denies any plan to seize any more Ukrainian territory. Mr Putin is downplaying talk of a return to a Cold War with the West and is dismissing the idea he is bent on restoring the former USSR, despite having previously lamented its collapse.

Ukraine, with a population of 45 million, is the second most populous ex-Soviet state.

Few new faces among candidates

Few of the leading candidates in the presidential poll are new faces.

Both Mr Poroshenko and Ms Tymoshenko played leading roles in the administrations that preceded Mr Yanukovych's defeat of Ms Tymoshenko in the 2010 election.

Mr Poroshenko, 48, held a cabinet post for a time under Mr Yanukovych.

Both became wealthy in the anarchic post-Soviet 1990s. Mr Poroshenko is now worth $US1.3 billion according to Forbes through his candy and chocolate empire, while Ms Tymoshenko is known as the "gas princess" because of her involvement in trade and transit of Russian natural gas.

After the Orange Revolution, when he was head of the national security council and she prime minister, the two traded accusations of corruption.

Ms Tymoshenko, 53, was jailed in 2011 for corrupt gas deals with Russia but was released when Mr Yanukovych was toppled and her record cleared.

ABC/Reuters 


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