Ukraine's ruling party wins parliamentary elections

Volodymyr Shapoval, head of Ukraine's Central Election Commission, announces the official results from the Oct 28 parliamentary election in Kiev Nov 11, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

KIEV - Ukraine's ruling Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yanukovych, won victory in the parliamentary elections as 100 percent of the votes were counted, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced final results on Sunday.

According to the CEC, the Party of Regions garnered 30 percent of the votes while the "Fatherland" Party of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came second winning 25.54 percent of the votes.

The "Punch" Party led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitchk ranked third with 13.96 percent of the ballots, surpassing the Ukrainian Communist Party, 13.18 percent.

The National Patriotic Party "Freedom" gained 10.44 percent of the votes to become a dark horse in the elections.

Analysts say the ruling party will unite Ukrainian Communist Party and some independent parliamentary members to form parliamentary majority so as ensure its control over the new parliament.

The seventh Ukrainian parliamentary elections, which were held on October 28, were conducted under a mixed system, with 225 members of parliament elected on party lists and the remaining 225 in single-seat constituencies.

According to the CEC, a total of 21 political parties and some 3,000 candidates contested for the 450 seats in the country's supreme legislative body.

Ukrainian parliamentary elections have attracted the world's attention, with 3,800 international and 240,000 local observers registered to monitor the process.