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                 Presidential Voting Under Way in Tense Ukraine

   by VOA News

   Ukraine's polling stations opened Sunday in a presidential election
   overshadowed by violence in the country's mainly Russian-speaking east
   and by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
   Ukraine election monitors say armed pro-Russian separatists are likely
   to prevent up to two-thirds of voters in eastern districts from
   choosing a new president in Sunday's election, despite calls from Kyiv
   for a strong voter turnout.
   So far, there have been no reports of clashes, but little voting was
   taking place in the eastern part of the country.
   Armed pro-Russian insurgents have controlled about a dozen cities in
   eastern Ukraine for weeks, and the head of the League of Voters says he
   doubts that more than a third of the electorate in the Donetsk and
   Luhansk districts will show up to vote.  Ukraine's Interior Ministry
   concurred Saturday, saying voting will probably not take place in 20 of
   34 districts in those border areas.
   Polls elsewhere in the country of 45 million residents point to a
   resounding win for a pro-Western presidential candidate, and a heavy
   turnout.
   In a televised address Saturday, interim Prime Minister Arseniy
   Yatsenyuk called on all Ukrainians to stop "bandits sponsored from
   abroad" from disrupting the polls -- a blunt reference to Russia's
   support for separatists near the border.
   Sunday's vote is widely seen as the most important election since
   Ukraine gained independence with the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet
   Union.
   For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Friday to
   recognize the outcome of the election.  He also voiced hope that
   Ukraine's new president will end military operations against
   separatists in the east.
   Twenty-one candidates are competing to become Ukraine's next
   president.  Polls indicate billionaire candy maker Petro Poroshenko
   holds a commanding lead, but falling just short of the absolute
   majority needed to claim a first-round win.
   More than 4,000 monitors, including 1,000 foreign observers, are in
   Ukraine to oversee the voting.  It is not clear if they have access to
   polling stations in or near the embattled Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/presidential-voting-under-way-in-tens
   e-ukraine/1922042.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/presidential-voting-under-way-in-tense-ukraine/1922042.html