Early 2007 Ukraine Election Reports

It should not surprise anyone that there are already reports of some voting irregularities in the Ukrainian parliamentary election today. There are reports of empty ballots being stuffed into ballot boxes and laying around at polling stations in the country's Donetsk region. This is the area that most strongly supports Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Are they trying to repeat what they did in the 2004 election?

Early reports from the exit polls indicate a statistical dead heat. A poll from the Democratic Initiatives Foundation shows the Party of Regions with 35.2% of the vote, and their Communist Party friends with 5.1%. The Orange group is led by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc with 31.5% and Our Ukraine People's Self Defense Bloc with 13.4%.

A surprise is the People's Party, led by former Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodmyr Lytvyn, winning enough votes to earn some parliamentary seats. It is not clear which side Lytvyn would back.

More news as it becomes available.