Ukraine's ruling party clinches victory after 96% ballots counted

Ukraine's ruling Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yanukovych, clinched victory in the parliamentary elections as 96.08 percent of the votes counted, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Tuesday. According to the CEC, the Party of Regions garnered 30.53 percent of the votes while the "Fatherland" Party of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came off second best winning 25.16 percent of the votes. The "Punch" Party led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitchk ranked third with 13.76 percent of the ballots, surpassing the Ukrainian Communist Party, 13.39 percent. The National Patriotic Party "Freedom" gained 10.21 percent of the votes becoming a dark horse in the elections. The seventh Ukrainian parliamentary elections have attracted the world's attention, with 3,800 international and 240,000 local observers registered to monitor the process. The observers from some countries, such as Russia, hailed the elections as calm, democratic and organized one, while some Western observers slammed the polls, saying the vote was heavily tilted in favor of President Yanukovych. In response to the accuse, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Tuesday that international observers should provide specific examples of violations registered during the elections, so that the authorities could look into them. He said the official results released by the CEC and those of the exit polls are very close, which means the 2012 parliamentary elections were fair and democratic. The Ukrainian parliamentary elections, which were held on Sunday, were conducted under a mixed system, with 225 members of parliament elected on party lists and the remaining 225 in single- seat constituencies. According to the CEC, a total of 21 political parties and some 3,000 candidates were contesting the 450 seats in the country's supreme legislative body. The CEC will announce the final election results within 15 days and the full preliminary results will be announced on Wednesday.