Yanukovych, Tymoshenko pass to round two

Yesterday Ukrainian voters hit the polls to decide Ukraine’s fourth president since Independence. As of 9:30 today, with 75% of the votes counted, official results from the Central Elections Commission have Viktor Yanukovych garnering 35.96% and Tymoshenko 24.68%. Brad Wells: Early results, which were in line with published exit polls, confirmed our expectations that no candidate would win more than 50% of yesterday’s vote and that Yanukovych and Tymoshenko would advance to the second round. Moreover, we have held that Tymoshenko is a capable challenger to Yanukovych in the second round and her ~10 pp gap is very surmountable, in our view. We see this period from now until the second round, which is likely to take place on February 7, as being more active, particularly because the follow up is shaping up to be a close contest. Look for a flash note later this morning.