KIEV - Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, who came first in a presidential election on Sunday but did not win outright, appealed to the supporters of his rivals for their votes. Exit polls showed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko came second behind her foe but trailed between 4-11 per cent -- a smaller gap than had been predicted by opinion polls. Analysts had said Tymoshenko, with a flexible voter base, would find it easier to gain more support in a second round than Yanukovich. "I would like to turn to those voters who voted for other candidates -- so that they know that their vote will be taken into account in the programmes that we will soon prepare," he told journalists. Yanukovich has taken advantage of bitter political rows amongst the winners of a 2004 "Orange Revolution", in particular Tymoshenko and current President Viktor Yushchenko, who scored just 5-6 per cent according to the exit polls. "I am not against the slogans which they (the "Orange" camp) were proposing ... I will fulfil them ... they thought they could make promises from election to election and not fulfil the promises, that people will forget."
