A close aide of Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko said exit polls showing that her rival, Viktor Yanukovich, won today's presidential poll fell within the margin of error and it was too early to say who won.
The former Soviet nation's 37 million registered voters are choosing between Russian-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came to international prominence in the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution.
Analysts expect a narrow victory for Yanukovich but Tymoshenko has threatened to call for protests if she deems the vote unfair, in a replay of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" that swept her and outgoing pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko to power.
"The result of the majority of exit polls are within the margin of statistical error. Conclusions about who the victor is can be made only on the basis of the real results of the Central Election Commission," First Deputy Prime Minister and Tymoshenko's campaign chief Oleksander Turchynov told journalists.
Any challenge to the poll result would further damage confidence in a country plagued by years of political bickering among the winners of the 2004 revolution, stalled policy-making and now, an economic crisis.
The euphoria of 2004, when protests overturned a rigged poll that gave Yanukovich victory, has disappeared and been replaced by a sense of frustration and fatigue.
Both Tymoshenko and Yanukovich hope to improve ties with Russia after relations with the ex-Soviet master deteriorated under Yushchenko. Both also hope for closer integration with the European Union, though Tymoshenko is seen as more enthusiastic.
But whoever wins will also have to make difficult spending cuts at home to bring back the International Monetary Fund and its unprecedented $16.4 billion bailout that was vital for the state coffers but suspended last year over broken promises.
The personal antagonism between the beefy, slow-speaking Yanukovich, 59, and the sharp-tongued Tymoshenko, 49, mirrors a gulf between the Russian-speaking east and nationalist west.
In the east and south, people have faith in Yanukovich's consistency, his ability to do business with Russia and see him as a strong man shaped by a rough childhood. He has served twice as prime minister - the same as Tymoshenko.
A tired Tymoshenko voted early in her native Dnipropetrovsk.
"I have just voted for a new Ukraine, a happy Ukraine, a rich, beautiful European state," she said. "I am sure only in such a state people will live happily, each person will find his place and I will serve this cause with all my soul and ability."
The former gas tycoon accused Yanukovich of preparing to cheat after his Regions Party pushed through parliament changes to voting rules, a charge Yanukovich throws back at Tymoshenko.
A spokesman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the amendments should change little if voting officials work in good faith. The election arm of the OSCE will present its findings from its observations tomorrow.
Yushchenko, Tymoshenko's former ally in the Orange Revolution but with whom she has since exchanged bitter recriminations, was eliminated in the first round of voting.
"I think Ukraine will be ashamed of its choice. But that is also democracy," the outgoing president said.
Reuters