Tymoshenko still silent; compromise seen as more likely

Presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko still has yet to declare her position on the election results. With 99.99% of ballots counted, she trails Viktor Yanukovych by 3.48 pp. Brad Wells: We now see the formation of a new coalition in the current Rada led by Yanukovych’s Party of Regions or a Yanukovych-Tymoshenko truce more likely. Newly published exit poll results by ICTV indicated that if Sergiy Tigipko, the former TAS-Group businessman and third place finisher in the first round, had reached the second round – he would have handily beaten both Tymoshenko (52% to 27%) and Yanukovych (52% to 32%). These polls imply pre-term parliamentary elections would not be in any current party’s favor – with Tymoshenko’s eponymous bloc and Yanukovych’s Regions party both losing seats to a new Tigipko political force – and Our Ukraine marginalized. The runoff’s overall slim victory margin also makes the outcome of a new round of parliamentary elections – whether the majority of seats will be Tymoshenko or Yanukovych leaning – far from clear.