(1 Oct 2007)
1. Wide shot of parliamentary building
2. Wide of news conference
3. Close-up of sign reading (English) ''Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights''
4. Officials at desk
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tone Tingsgaard, Vice President of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly:
"The 30 of September elections were conducted mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments, and other international standards for democratic elections."
6. Long shot of Kiev skyline
7. Long shot of parked buses carrying Yanukovich supporters
8. Various of Yanukovich supporters carrying blue flags preparing for rally
9. Various of Yanukovich supporters gathered in Independence Square
10. Pan from church to BYuT (Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko) party headquarters
11. Wide of entrance to room inside headquarters
12. Wide of the head of BYuT election campaign, Alexander Turchinov, seated at press conference
13. SOUNDBITE: (Ukrainian) Alexander Turchinov, Head of BYuT campaign:
"As of today according to the information from the Central Election Commission which has counted 88 percent of the vote, the geography of the result is well-represented so we can predict that the final result will not be different from these results."
14. Media at news conference
STORYLINE
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) observer mission said on Monday that Ukraine's parliamentary elections "were conducted in an open and competitive environment."
The observer mission's assessment of Sunday's vote is potentially important to the country's political stability because a favourable assessment could undermine disappointed parties' potential to argue that the election results were flawed.
"The 30 of September elections were conducted mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments, and other international standards for democratic elections," said Tone Tingsgaard, the Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The OSCE conducted the observation mission jointly with the European Parliament and the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).
In all, nearly 770 observers took part.
President Viktor Yushchenko called the early vote to end a standoff with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Incomplete results indicate the parties of Yushchenko and one-time ally Yulia Tymoshenko together have enough seats to form a governing majority if they can overcome their differences and form a coalition.
With results from 55 percent of polling stations counted, the bloc led by Tymoshenko had about 33 percent of the vote, followed closely by Yanukovych's party with 30 percent and Yushchenko's bloc a distant third with about 16 percent, according to the Central Election Commission.
"As of today according to the information from the Central Election Commission which counted 88 percent of the vote, the geography of the result is well-represented so we can predict that the final result will not be different from these results," said Alexander Turchinov, Head of Tymoshenko's BYuT campaign.
The Communists were tallying 5 percent, followed by the party led by former parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn with 4 percent and the Socialists just above the 3-percent threshold for getting into parliament.
If the parties of Tymoshenko and Yushchenko come through on their pledge to cooperate, they would together have the majority of seats needed to form a government.
Their coalition could mend a rift in Orange Revolution forces that had thrown the nation into political turmoil.
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