Ukraine: Ruling Party Wins Election, 99.9% Count

Ukraine’s ruling Party of the Regions gained almost 30 percent of the vote with 99.84 percent of the ballots counted after the country’s parliamentary elections, Ukraine’s central election commission said on Saturday, gaining 29.99 percent of the party list vote.

Opposition party Batykivshina (Fatherland) led by jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came second with 25.53 percent, and former world boxing champion Vitaly Klichko’s Udar party came third with 13.95 percent.

The communist party came in fourth with 13.18 percent and the nationalist Svoboda party gained 10.44 percent. The remaining parties could not get past the 5 percent minimum threshold to enter parliament.

The Party of Regions also won the constituency district vote. The election took place on October 28, with a mixed vote system. Half the Rada (parliament) Deputies are chosen from party lists on a proportional representation vote and half on constituency ballots.

Ukraine’s central election commission will announce a final result for the vote, with all ballots counted, on Monday at 11:00 a.m. local time.

The central election commission has so far accepted all the ballots from 188 of 225 regional election commissions.