From David Ackles for Hromadske International:
Some eligible voters in Eastern Ukraine, who were able to participate, were not particularly interested in doing so. Many were more preoccupied with their own personal affairs as they try to rebuild their lives and patch up their broken homes. Others in the Ukrainian-controlled territories seem to have lost confidence in the political system altogether...
Today's map from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council:
From the newsroom:
Arseniy Yatsenyuk has suggested he is likely to stay on as Ukraine's prime minister after a new government is formed.
Yatsenyuk told a press conference on October 29 that "the party which has secured first place in the elections is obliged to begin the process of forming a coalition…the leader of (this) party heads the government."
With 98 percent of the votes cast in Ukraine's October 26 parliamentary election, Yatsenyuk's People's Front party led with 22.2 percent.
President Petro Proshenko's bloc had 21.8 percent.
Yatsenyuk said it was time to start discussions with potential coalition partners, naming Poroshenko's bloc, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna Party, the Samopomich (Self-Reliance) Party of Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, and Oleh Lyashko's Radical Party.
Yatsenyuk said potential members of the coalition should have their list of nominees for cabinet posts ready by November 3.
Based on reporting by UNIAN, Reuters, and Interfax