KIEV

Polling in Ukraine's historic parliamentary elections has come to an end.

According to initial reports, the pro-government parties have received more than 50 percent of the vote.

President Petro Poroshenko's block is seen as the favorite in the elections. He is expected to make a coalition with Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenuk’s party.

People began to cast their votes in the volatile country at 8 a.m., where polling stations remained opened until 8 p.m., local time.

At the end of the voting process, Poroshenko sent a congratulatory note to all Ukrainians via his official Twitter account Sunday.

“The parliamentary election in Ukraine was held. I congratulate Ukrainians,” he tweeted.

He also gave a speech after the election. “Elections were held in a fair, democratic, transparent and a highly competitive political environment,” he said.  

Earlier when he cast his vote, the president said he had voted for the future of his country, which he hoped would turn out to be a “new government, parliament and pro-European coalition.”

According to the president’s official website, Poroshenko said the people of Ukraine needed to make a “responsible choice.”

“I hope that we will have new government, parliament and pro-European coalition just like the new Ukraine and new president we already have after the Revolution of Dignity,” he said.

He hoped that “a powerful democratic coalition” would be formed after the elections to support his actions on the way towards peace and state development.

“I hope that my efforts will be supported and in conditions of parliamentary-presidential republic, we will have a united, powerful and efficient team for the implementation of reforms and the achievement of victory and peace in Ukraine,” the head of the state said.

He added it would be “much easier” to implement reforms after the elections. He also said the Ukrainian elections met European democratic standards.

More than 2,300 observers from 41 states were monitoring the voting process.

Yatsenuk told reporters in Kiev after casting his vote that he expected big changes after the elections to solve Ukraine’s problems.

Former Ukrainian prime minister and head of the “Fatherland” Party, Yulia Timoshenko, also participated in the vote in Dnipropetrovsk city.

Overseas Ukrainians also voted in 112 polling stations.

More than 32 million Ukrainians exercised their right to choose 6,627 candidates and 29 parties for the 450-member parliament known as the “Verkhovna Rada” in Ukraine.

Crimea and most parts of eastern region of Donbas, which are still not under the full control of Ukrainian authorities, did not participate in the elections.

Ukrainian president had also paid a surprise visit to the soldiers fighting the pro-Russian separatists in Donbas region’s Kramatorsk city, where the Ukrainian army recently took full control.

During the visit, Poroshenko said polling stations in Kramatorsk, Dzerzhynsk and Sloviansk had been opened and the authorities would do everything to ensure the security of voters. Polling stations in other parts of Donbas region remained closed.

The last general elections in Ukraine were held in October 2012 before dramatic events gripped the country.

Last year's Maidan protests led to Moscow-backed former president, Viktor Yanukovych, to flee the country after he refused to sign a deal to have closer ties with the EU.

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have been continuing their attacks in the eastern part of the country, despite a ceasefire between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels signed on September 5.

Semi-autonomous Crimea unilaterally decided to join the Russian Federation in March, while thousands of people have been killed in eastern Ukraine in clashes between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists since Kiev launched its anti-terror operations in mid-April.

www.aa.com.tr/en