Yanukovych leads Tymoshenko by 10% with 85% of votes counted
KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax) - After 85% of votes counted, Ukraine's Central Elections Commissions (CEC) are putting the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych ahead in the first round of the presidential election with 35.47% of the vote, with his closest rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko garnering 24.88%.
Yanukovych and Tymoshenko look set to go head-to-head in the runoff as businessman and politician Sergiy Tigipko trails in third with 13.05%.
6.98% of voters opted for leader of the Front of Change Arseniy Yatsenyuk and 5.42% for incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko.
The Communist Party leader Petro Simonenko collected 3.55% of the vote, Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn 2.34%, nationalist leader Oleh Tyahnybok 1.44%, and Anatoly Grytsenko 1.21%. Inna Bohoslovska sits in tenth position with 0.42% of the vote.
2.21% of ballots were left blank.