Poll: residents of regional centers inclined to support Yanukovych in presidential run-off

Kyiv, January 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The residents of the regional centers of Ukraine, including Kyiv and Simferopol, will favor Viktor Yanukovych in the second round of the presidential election, according to a poll.

The opinion poll "Electoral situation in Ukraine's regional centers ahead of the second round of the election" was conducted by SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research and presented by lead manager of SOCIS Center Oleksandr Chashkovsky at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

"Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych will get 41.1% and 58.9% respectively [in the second round]," Chashkovsky said at the press conference.

He noted that the survey concerns only those respondents who have already decided whom to support in the presidential run-off.

"Those categories [of respondents] were not taken into account who refused to answer or hadn't decided on their choice," Chashkovsky said.

At the same time, 6.5% of those polled refused say whom they will support in the second round, 4% of the respondents will support none of the candidates, and 12.5% will not vote at all.

Chashkovsky said that the voter turnout in the second round could be little higher and reach 71-72%.

The poll of the SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research was conducted on January 18-20, 2010 via 5-munite telephone interviews in all regional centers of Ukraine, including Kyiv and Simferopol. A total of 3,307 respondents old than 18 participated in the survey.