The "orange" opposition party "Block of Yulia Tymoshenko" took a narrow lead in the initial results of the Ukrainian parliamentary elections, with 33.3% against 30.6% of votes for the "blue" "Party of the Regions" led by Prime Minister Yanukovich. The "Our Ukraine – People's Self-Defence" party of President Yushchenko gained 15.6% of votes.
"This is without a doubt a victory," Tymoshenko said on 1 October.
Exit polls had put Yanukovich ahead of Tymoshenko on Sunday evening. But initial results, with more than half of votes counted on Monday morning, indicated a swing.
Tymoshenko already announced that she would seek a coalition with President Yushchenko's Self-Defence party. However, the two pro-Western parties may need a third coalition partner to secure their majority. Possible candidates are the block of former Parliament President Volodymyr Lytvyn, who got 4.2% of votes, or the Socialist Party, which received 3.2% of ballots. Cooperation with the Communist Party, which took 5.1% of votes, is largely ruled out.
"We will wait for the vote count to be completed and then we will form a democratic coalition," Tymoshenko said. "We can and will form a majority."
