'Pro-European' parties win Ukraine elections

Pro-western groups won a decisive victory in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, with parties loyal to President Poroshenko and PM Yatseniuk winning just under 45 percent of vote, Sunday.

President Poroshenko's bloc received 23 percent of the vote, with the People's Front of Yatseniuk just behind on 21 percent, according to exit polls.

With around 3 million voters in eastern regions affected by fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists and 1.5 million voters in the annexed Crimea region not voting, the Opposition Bloc led by ex-fuel minister Yuriy Boiko, and loyal to ousted president Viktor Yanukovich, still managed to pick up around 7.5 of the vote.



The nationalist Svoboda Party also gained enough votes to be eligible for seats in the parliament (Rada).

President Poroshenko told supporters that they had chosen a parliament that will be "democratic, reformist, pro-Ukrainian with a pro-European majority".

Turnout was 51 percent, the national election commission said, with the highest (70%) in the western Lviv region.



According to former Polish president, Aleksander Kwasniewski – who acted as EU envoy to Ukraine during the imprisonment of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko, – the election result will give the country “a chance to form a strong pro-European coalition”.

“Everyone will want to help Ukraine undertake reforms to lay the foundation of a democratic state ,” Poland's foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna told Polish Radio on Monday morning. (pg)

Main photo: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reacts after exit polls show clear majority for pro-EU parties: photo -EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO