KIEV, Ukraine - The Orange Revolution allies made a strong combined showing in early parliamentary elections Sunday and could win a majority that would allow them to unseat their longtime foe, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, according to an independent exit poll.
The poll indicated Yanukovych's bloc had won 35.5 per cent of the vote, while Yulia Tymoshenko, the fiery Orange Revolution heroine, was following closely with 31.5 per cent. President Viktor Yushchenko's party was trailing a distant third with 13.4 per cent, according to the exit poll.
Yushchenko and Tymoshenko struck a last-minute alliance this week to form a coalition in parliament. If they follow up on their pledge and the president names Tymoshenko the prime minister, that would mend a rift that has split the Orange Revolution forces and thrown the nation into political turmoil.
A new Orange coalition could be expected to steer Ukraine more firmly onto a pro-Western course, while Yanukovych, who relies on support from Russian-speaking eastern regions, is seen as more Russia-friendly.
The poll, conducted by a team of Ukraine's three leading polling agencies, had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The Communists, who said they would form a coalition with Yanukovych's party, got 5.1 per cent of the vote, the exit poll showed. The party led by former parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, who has been vague about his future affiliation, got 3.7 per cent, just above the 3 per cent threshold for parties to get into parliament.
Even if Yanukovych's party merged with both smaller parties, it would still fall behind an alliance of Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, which together appear to have secured a simple majority of at least 226 votes in the 450-seat parliament if the exit poll's findings are confirmed.
Other exit polls had similar results.
Tymoshenko, smiling triumphantly after the exit polls were announced, said she would meet with Yushchenko on Monday to quickly formalize their new alliance. "In one or two days we will announce the coalition,'' she told reporters.
Yuriy Lutsenko, the leader of Yushchenko's party, said it was ready to back Tymoshenko as prime minister after the coalition is formed.
Tymoshenko pledged that the new government would push strongly to integrate more closely into Europe and quickly join the World Trade Organization.
At the same time, she said Ukraine would seek to develop good relations with Russia and hold talks shortly on imports of Russian gas and its transit to Europe. "We will guarantee a balanced, harmonious relationship with Russia,'' she said.
While Tymoshenko's headquarters celebrated the results with champagne, a gloomy silence hung over Yanukovych's campaign office.
A somber-looking Yanukovych made a brief statement in which he tried to present the results as his party's victory, saying it would now start talks with potential coalition partners. "We consider the election results as a carte blanche for our party to form a new government,'' he said. He took no questions and left.
Yushchenko has voiced hopes that the vote _ the fourth national election in three years _ would boost Ukraine's efforts to integrate more closely into Europe and leave behind the political infighting that has paralyzed the government.
Casting his ballot at a Kiev polling station, he described the vote as a choice between the future and the past.
"The choice is between two alternatives: false stability and change,'' Yushchenko said. "I'm convinced that today, the nation will opt for change. I think that the elections will bring Ukraine mutual understanding and tolerance between political forces, stability and economic growth.''
Ukraine's political fortunes had seemed firmly determined after hundreds of thousands of protesters paved the way for Yushchenko's victory in the Orange Revolution protests against Yanukovych's fraud-tinged win in the 2004 presidential vote.
But the Orange camp plunged into acrimonious infighting shortly after the victory, with Yushchenko firing Tymoshenko as prime minister in September 2005 after only seven months on the job.
And Yanukovych, a 57-year-old former metal worker, made a stunning comeback in the March 2006 parliamentary elections when his party won the most votes, propelling him back into the premiership.
Yanukovych sought to change his image, casting himself as a democrat and preaching compromise and stability. He also eased his affiliation with Russia and underlined his push for Ukraine's integration into Europe.
Unlike the 2004 vote when the Kremlin staunchly backed Yanukovych, Russia has stayed away from the parliamentary election.
Some 3,000 international observers _ including Canadians _ were monitoring the vote, and one member of the Canadian delegation said a number of irregularities were witnessed during the balloting.
Liberal party strategist Gerard Kennedy said from the capital that local officials also continued to harass his group of 128 observers, several of whom were briefly detained.
"We had some other incidents, some low-level bribes that we saw taking place,'' Kennedy said. "I think all of that stuff will have to come out in the context of how is the election is being done.''
Still, Kennedy added, the election in the former Soviet republic was ''quite the impressive exercise in democracy, albeit with some not-insignificant flaws.''
