Exit Polls Indicate Yanukovych Wins Ukraine's 2010 Presidential Runoff Election

Several exit polls indicate opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won Sunday's presidential runoff election in Ukraine. Challenger and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is expected to challenge the election results.

Ukraine's National Exit Poll 2010, which is conducted by a group of leading pollsters, indicated Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions, received 48.7% of the vote, as compared to 45.5% for Tymoshenko.  The poll's margin of error is 2.5%.

International market research firm GfK Group indicated a larger margin of victory for Yanukovych, 49.8% to 45.2%, with a margin of error of 1.6%.

It appears that many Ukrainians were not voting for a particular candidate, as much as they were voting against the other.

Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko urged his supporters to vote against both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, saying that Ukrainians will be ashamed of the choice they have to make.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Tymoshenko's campaign manager, said they would contest votes cast at over 1,000 polling stations in Ukraine's Donetsk region, an area that strongly supports Yanukovych. Turchynov indicated that Tymoshenko delegates were barred from polling places in the region. Turchynov also complained of multiple voting and bribery.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said they had not received reports of serious violations during Sunday's vote.

Yanukovych has indicated if he became president, he will attempt to remove Tymoshenko as prime minister by encouraging defections from her coalition and forming his own parliamentary majority. If that fails, he plans to call for a new parliamentary election a year ahead of schedule.

These election results reflect the feelings of many Ukrainians that the Orange Revolutioin failed to deliver prosperity and stability. Instead, it led to regular bouts of political infighting and the country's current economic crisis. What a shame!

Photo: Rowland Goodman - Creative Commons