An exit poll predicted Sunday that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has been elected Ukraine's next president, with voters apparently favoring a leader who will steer the country away from the pro-Western course set by the 2004 Orange Revolution. The National Election Poll expected the Russia-leaning Yanukovych to finish first in Sunday's runoff ballot, capturing 48.7 percent of the vote to 45.5 percent for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, with other voters mostly choosing "Against all", AP reported. The stone-faced political leader from Ukraine's Russian-speaking east fought hard against Tymoshenko, whose impassioned leadership of the 2004 Orange protests made her an international celebrity. But Sunday's vote appeared to be much closer than the first round Jan. 17, where Yanukovych had a 10 percentage point lead over Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko has vowed to challenge a vote she claims was rigged. Yanukovych supporters have been camped out in front of the Central Election Commission headquarters in Kiev in an apparent effort to prevent Tymoshenko supporters from blockading the building. Yanukovych has pledged to restore order and says he will try to balance ties to east and west. But he represents the hopes of many in eastern Ukraine, who feel they have been relegated to second-class status by their countrymen in western Ukraine.
