We can say we won

Viktor Yushchenko

A BBC correspondent in Kiev, however, says only half the parliamentary seats are distributed on a proportional party-list basis.

The remaining deputies are chosen in single-member constituencies by a first-past-the-post system and this is where the pro-president bloc is expected to do well when the official results are announced on Monday morning.

But Mr Yushchenko was buoyant on Sunday evening when he spoke to a Ukrainian TV station.

Viktor Yushchenko won popularity for paying pensions and wages on time while in office

"We can say we won," he said, adding that the ex-Soviet state's political image was "changing for the better".

The turnout was low - less than 50% across the country.

The highest voter activity was registered in western Ukraine - just under 70% - while the lowest was in Kiev where only a third of the voters turned out.

The election is seen as a test of Ukraine's commitment to reform - and a referendum on the scandal-hit Mr Kuchma, whose term ends in two years' time.

Thirty-three parties contested the seats in the parliament, known as the Rada, but only a handful will pass the 4% electoral threshold.

Watchdog complaints

This election campaign, the third in the 10 years since independence, has been branded the dirtiest in Ukraine's history.

Various watchdogs - both domestic and international - have complained about the media bias and a dirty tricks campaign on the part of the authorities.

It is impossible to cast your vote here

Kiev voter

Prominent candidates were arbitrarily struck off the established electoral lists and the last day before the vote was marred by the killing of a leading candidate in the west of the country.

It may be unrelated to the election, but it has certainly raised the tension ahead of it.

An unprecedented 1,000 international monitors have been observing the vote at the polling stations across the country - along with 25,000 local volunteers.

Fears of a possible rigging of the election results are high and there have been reports of missing ballot papers and coercion of voters.

"It is impossible to cast your vote here," one woman voter said outside an overcrowded polling-station in central Kiev .

The electors' watchdog has registered 100,000 minor violations of the voting procedure but added that this was well within the norm for the young Ukrainian democracy.

Kuchma's woes

Mr Yushchenko's party is afraid it will be denied the clear victory needed to push through stalled market reforms.

The pro-presidential parties accuse it of pursuing a western agenda and a personal vendetta against President Kuchma.

The vote is seen as a key test of President Leonid Kuchma's popularity

Some opposition politicians, such as the Communists, have vowed to start impeachment procedures if they muster a majority in the new parliament.

The president is implicated in a series of scandals ranging from the killing of a prominent journalist to an illegal sale of arms to Iraq.

His fight for political survival is being closely watched by the West and Russia, who have been pulling Kiev in different directions.

This has created resentment among Ukrainian voters, who say they want to be left alone to decide their role in future.