President Yanukovych Leads Political Rating in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine, March 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Acting head of state Viktor Yanukovych is the leader of political sympathies rating in Ukraine. According to the results of the recent sociological survey, 22 percent of respondents would have voted for Yanukovych had the presidential elections been taken place now.

Next positions in the presidential rating hold the Batkivshchyna leader Yulia Tymoshenko with 13 percent of possible votes and the Front for Change party leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk with nine percent of respondents' support.

In regards to political activity, the leaders of the survey are Viktor Yanukovych (26.5 percent of respondents) and Vice-Prime Minister Sergey Tigipko (22.5 percent of respondents).

The survey results show that in case the elections to the Verkhovna Rada (The Parliament of Ukraine) were held today, the three percent electoral barrier would be overcome by six political parties, with the Party of Regions (21%) and BYuT-Batkivshchyna Party (13%) in the lead. The parties led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Front for Change - 8%), Sergey Tigipko (Strong Ukraine - 4%), Petro Symonenko (Communist Party- 4%) and Oleh Tiahnybok (Freedom- 3%) close the list.

The public opinion survey of Ukrainian population on socio-political and economic issues was conducted on March 1-9, 2011, by the independent research company Research & Branding Group, a member of the European society of public opinion researchers and marketing (ESOMAR).

The survey information was collected in 24 regions (oblasts) of Ukraine and in the autonomous republic of Crimea. The representative respondents' sampling of 2075 people was selected based on age, gender and place of residence (administrative regions).

As of March 24, 2011, there are 186 registered political parties in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Justice Website.

Currently the Party of Regions faction is the largest in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine listing 186 deputies - members of the ruling party. It is followed by BYuT-Batkivshchyna faction and Our Ukraine-People's Self Defense faction represented by 106 and 68 deputies respectively. The least populated factions in the parliament are the Communist Party and the People's Party factions and the deputies' group Reforms for the Future.