The pro-West coalition led by Yulia Tymoshenko’s party is close to winning Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, preliminary results released Monday indicated.

The Election Commission in Kiev said Yulia Tymoshenko’s anti-corruption Bloc (BYuT) received nearly 34 per cent of votes from Sunday’s election, with 79 per cent of votes being reported Monday morning.

The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OUNSD), supporting President Viktor Yushchenko, gained only 15 per cent of the support and has already received an offer to join forces with Tymoshenko.

The pro-European OUNSD and BYuT received substantial support from voters and continue to have an advantage over the Regions Ukraine party led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, that received 32.5 per cent.

The third component of the alliance is likely to be either the bloc of former parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvin, which received 4 per cent or the Socialists (3.1 per cent). The Communists won only 5.2 per cent and an alliance with the pro-West is not being considered at the moment, reports said.

However, after the polling station were closed Sunday Tymoshenko said her party and OUNSD would win enough support to form a coalition without a third party.

“We will wait for the vote count to be completed, and then we will form a democratic coalition,” she said. “We can and will form a majority ... without anyone else's help.”

If the current figures remain in place, the two parties would control between 226 and 228 seats in the 450-member house.

Since September 2006, the parliament was led by Yanukovich’s pro-Russia coalition which included the Communists and Socialist. Economic reforms and talks with NATO were stopped in their tracks, the coalition directing its efforts towards developing businesses.

Tymoshenko’s camp supports the fight against corruption along with strengthening Ukraine’s ties with Europe.

Nearly 63 per cent of the registered voters turned out at polling sites, but not all the votes were counted in several regions. Those delays were criticized, the country’s President Viktor Yushchenko warning election officials in those regions that election fraud is harshly punished in Ukraine

Even if these setbacks could affect the partial results, international observers said the vote proceeded normally. Officials from the European Union congratulated the organizers for managing a free and fair election, and hoped that following processes would follow the same path.

“(The) elections represent a genuine opportunity for a fresh start in Ukraine and the chance to overcome the political crisis that has gripped the country,” said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.