KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) – With 60.15 percent of ballots counted, billionaire Petro Poroshenko has retained his lead in Ukraine’s presidential race, scoring 53.72 percent of the vote, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission said Monday.
His closest rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, trailed far behind with 13.08 percent. Oleh Lyashko, the leader of the Radical Party of Ukraine, came third, with 8.47 percent of the vote.
People’s deputy Anatoly Grytsenko took 5.47 percent, self-nominated Serhyi Tihipko, scored 5.24 percent of the votes and Mykhailo Dobkin of the Party of Regions got 3.43 percent, the Central Election Commission said.
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 were registered to take part in the vote, but several later announced their decision to withdraw, bringing the number to 21.
Poroshenko, dubbed Ukraine’s “chocolate king” by Forbes magazine, said Sunday he would present a range of laws on the settlement of the situation in the crisis-hit country.
