KIEV, March 29 (RIA Novosti) - Political parties and blocs that failed to negotiate a 3%- barrier to take up seats in Ukraine's parliament after the recent elections demanded Wednesday that the votes be recounted.
"We are filing suits to request a vote recount at all polling stations around the country and are asking the Central Election Committee to postpone the announcement of official results until the final review of all appeals and the vote recount," representatives of the bloc led by Supreme Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, the Veche party, the Pora-PRP bloc and the National Democratic party said in a joint statement.
All the parties and blocs, except the Pora-PRP bloc, also said they were determined to start protests if the authorities failed to meet their demands, although they were not specific about what form their action could take.
With 93.24% of Sunday's vote counted, former presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych's party was leading the race with 31.26% of the vote, followed by former Prime Minister Tymoshenko's bloc (22.47%), the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc (14.48%), the Socialist Party (5.87%) and the Communist Party (3.63%)
The results suggest the Party of Regions is likely to end up with about 176 seats of the total 450. Currently, Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc would take up 130 seats, Our Ukraine 89, the Socialists 36, and the Communists 21.
