Viktor Yanukovych"s narrow victory over...

With nearly 99% of vote counted from Sunday"s vote, Yanukovych leads with 48.65% of vote, a mere 2.88% over Tymoshenko, a populist who was among the leaders of the "Orange Revolution" against election fraud which overturned Yanukovych"s declared victory in the previous polls in 2004 raising popular protests.

Vadim Karasyov, director of Ukrainian independent think tank Institute of Global Strategies, said the margin was too narrow to give Yanukovych a sound victory.

"Tymoshenko lost the vote, but she was not defeated," he said. "Now, Yanukovych has limited space for maneuver when forming a coalition to push a comfortable prime minister through the parliament. The trading-off over "third candidates" is likely to start."

In the past couple of years Tymoshenko openly squabbled with her former "Orange Revolution" ally, President Viktor Yushchenko, in a feud that badly damaged Ukraine"s economy as it struggled with the global crisis, effectively forcing potential foreign

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