Ukraine votes for pro-European parties

Members of a local electoral commission count ballots at the end of parliamentary elections at polling station in Kiev, Ukraine, 26 October 2014. Photo: PAP/EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Ukrainians have put their trust in President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, reports Polish Radio's Ukrainian Section correspondent Olena Babakova from Kiev.

Exit polls released on Sunday evening show seven political parties gaining seats in the Verkhovna Rada. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc and Arseniy Yatseniuk's People's Front together took around 50 percent of the votes.

The biggest sensation of this campaign is 10 percent score for Samopomich, a new political party created by Lviv's major Andriy Sadovyi. The Batkivshchyna party of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko performed worse than many had expected, with the 5.6 percent it secured only just above the threshold required to enter parliament.

President Poroshenko has said that the People's Front is the "main partner" in any parliamentary coalition and talks to form the majority could begin on Monday.