Ukraine election: Zelensky's party on course for historic win in parliament

Volodymyr Zelensky speaking at his party's headquarters after the parliamentary election
Volodymyr Zelensky speaking at his party's headquarters after the parliamentary election Copyright Reuters
By Caroline MortimerRachael Kennedy with Reuters
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Ukraine's Servant of the People party is set to secure a historic win by commanding the country's first overall majority in parliament.

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The party of new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to secure a historic win in the recent parliamentary election, which would mark the first time in the country's modern history that a single party will command a majority in the Verkhovna Rada.

Ukraine's voting population has signaled an endorsement of the reform agenda from its new president, who came to power three months earlier with his Servant of the People party — named after the television show on which he also acted the part of president.

Read more: What are the seven key takeaways from Ukraine's parliamentary elections?

The Central Election Commission (CEC) said the ruling party had secured 43.11% of the votes after more than 90% had been counted on Monday.

This was followed far behind by the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform for Life, which secured 13.03%, and former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymosehnko's Fatherland party with 8.18%.

European Solidarity, the party of former president Petro Poroshenko, secured just 8.15% of the vote.

However, the historic majority for Servant of the People, which is led by Dmytro Razumkov, was somewhat overshadowed by reports of an equally historic poor voter turnout.

The turnout was registered at 49.9%, which was the lowest ever in the history of Ukraine's parliamentary elections, and was the first time it dipped below 50%.

Ahead of securing the outright majority, Zelensky said on Sunday that he would be willing to cooperate with the Voice party, headed by rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, for talks about forming a governing coalition in parliament.

A senior member of the Voice party, which can in fifth place with 5.87% of the votes, separately said it was open to an alliance with new political forces provided they were not backed by oligarchs.

Despite the need for such talks dwindling as it appeared clear that Servant of the People was on course to win its majority, party member Galina Yanchenko told Ukrainian media that they hadn't ruled out forming a coalition.

"On the one hand, we have the majority that we can make, but on the other hand, we are interested in further consolidating the society," she said.

"The decisions made in the Verkhovna Rada would represent as many Ukrainian voters as possible - and therefore we won't refuse to negotiate [a coalition]; we do not renounce the coalition, and this is absolutely one of the possible scenarios."

Read more: Ukraine parliamentary election: what you need to know

The early results in the election prove Zelensky has confirmed his grip on power after his surprise victory against incumbent Poroshenko in the presidential run-off in April.

Zelensky, who shot to fame playing the president on Ukrainian television, won the second round run-off runoff with 73.2% of the vote despite having no political experience with an anti-corruption, anti-oligarch message.

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