According to our Ukrainian Service, inside Poroshenko's bloc there is some feeling that they did not do as well as once expected because they refused to engage in "black PR."
Aleksei Pushkov, the head of the Russian Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee -- and a relentless critic of the new Ukraine -- is quick with a a response to today's vote.
"Ukraine does not await European integration," he says. "Instead, a total loss of independence for the breadcrumbs that will be thrown their way by the U.S. and EU. An unhappy future."
One of the surprises of today's election is the strong showing of the new pro-European party of Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy. A video recently released by the "Vesti" daily newspaper (and written up in the "Kyiv Post") shows him at Yanukovych's 61st birthday party in 2011. While other guests -- including current Dnipropetrovsk Governor billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky -- greeted Yanukovych with folders holding photographs of their gifts to the president, Sadovy showed up in traditional Ukrainian dress and presented the then-president a book of pastoral epistles.
There's this:
and then this, from one on of the top pro-Kremlin hacks on Twitter.
"[the ultranationalist] Right Sector may not get into the Rada, but [it's leader] Yarosh, by all appearances will."
Comments from party leaders
-- According to Interfax, Yuriy Lutsenko, a leader of the Poroshenko bloc, has said that all "Maidan parties" will be invited to join his party's coalition.
-- Andriy Sadoviy, leader of the Samopomich party says his bloc faired well because "Ukrainians want changes, Ukrainians want reforms," according to Tass.
-- Yulia Tymoshenko has not comment on her party's results, according to Tass. Instead she said "The Batkivshchina party is ready to help the power the people will form by all possible means and resources."
Watch district vote too
It's worth keeping in mind, as we discuss exit polls, that 50 percent of Rada seats are based on proportional party lists and the other 50 percent are based on first-past-the-post district elections. This is where some wildcards are likely. In Dnipropetrovsk, for instance, Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh has likely won a seat, according to the deputy chairman of the regional administration. And in Mariupol, billionaire oligarch Serhiy Taruta, who was recently fired from his post as Donetsk governor by Poroshenko, seems likely to easily win a place in parliament.
Poroshenko hails vote
Poroshenko just spoke. Along with hailing the Western direction of Ukraine, he also noted that "for the first time in 96 years there will be no Communists" and Ukrainians delivered a decisive punch to a [pro-Russian] "fifth column."