Yanukovych leads in Ukraine election, but runoff expected

KIEV -- Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych took the lead today in Ukraine's presidential election with about 48 percent of the vote, according to partial results, but that was not enough to avoid a runoff next month after balloting marred by fears of violence and charges of election fraud.

With almost 22 percent of the precincts counted from yesterday's vote, the main challenger, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, had nearly 33 percent, the Central Elections Commission said. Yanukovych started the count with a 67 percent lead, but his margin fell.

An array of exit polls put the two top candidates within a few percentage points of each other, and both below the 50 percent needed to avoid a Nov. 21 runoff.

Official results that differed sharply from the polls could inflame tensions, which were high in the former Soviet republic after weeks of opposition assertions that officials planned wide-scale vote fraud.

Yushchenko, in a live television broadcast, said early today that a count by his campaign observers showed him with a bit more than 50 percent of the vote, with 10,800 of the 33,000 precincts tallied.

During the balloting, the Central Elections Commission building was cordoned off with waist-high metal partitions. Several water cannon and military-type attack vehicles were under camouflage. Officials apparently expected unruly demonstrations, but only a few dozen people gathered outside.

The vote was seen as a key test of democracy in this nation of 48 million people and as an indicator of what direction Ukrainians will choose for their nation, which has cultivated ties with the West and neighboring Russia.

An exit poll by the Kiev International Institute for Sociology and the Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Research had given Yushchenko a lead over Yanukovych, 45 to 37 percent, the Unian news agency said. But a poll by the Social Monitoring and Socis groups indicated Yanukovych leading, 43 to 39 percent.