Regions Party, its leader ahead of other political parties, FOM-Ukraine survey shows

Kyiv, February 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Regions Party and its head Viktor Yanukovych have taken a firm lead over other political parties in the polls, surpassing the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and its leader, according to a survey conducted by FOM-Ukraine Ltd. on February 1-11.

The company's director general, Oleksandr Bukhalov, presented the results of the study at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday. A total of 2,000 respondents aged over 18 from 160 populated localities participated in the interview. The poll's margin of error is 2.2%.

If a presidential election were held in mid February, Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych would win 20.4% of the vote, the eponymous bloc leader, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko 17.5%, former Verkhovna Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk 10.1%, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko 4.7%, incumbent Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn 3.7%, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko 1.9%.

Some 15.9% of respondents said they would vote against everybody and 11.5% were undecided.