KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) – With 40.06 percent of ballots counted in the Ukrainian presidential election, billionaire Petro Poroshenko leads the race with 54.09 percent of the vote, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission said Monday.
He is followed by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who got 13.13 percent. The leader of the Radical Party of Ukraine, Oleh Lyashko, comes third, with 8.49 percent of the vote.
People’s deputy Anatoly Grytsenko gained 5.47 percent, Serhyi Tihipko scored 5.09 percent of the votes and Mykhailo Dobkin got 3.36 percent, the Central Election Commission said.
An exit poll conducted by Shuster Ukrainian TV show indicated that Poroshenko has secured 55.7 percent of the vote while Tymoshenko got 12.9 percent.
The May 25 early presidential vote came amid a large-scale military operation launched by the new Kiev authorities to crack down on protesters refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the government.
A total of 23 candidates had been registered to take part in the vote, but several candidates later announced their decision to withdraw, bringing the number to 21.
