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	POLL: UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER'S POPULARITY DIPS AFTER CONTROVERSIAL MAYORAL RACE IN MUKACHEVE
	UNIAN news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 14 May 04 BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, May 14, 2004 Viktor Yanukovych, Prime Minister of Ukraine (L) and Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (R) , August 1, 2003 in Moscow. (AP photo, Sergei Ilnitsky) KIEV - Ukrainians would cast 36.3 per cent of votes for [opposition] Our Ukraine bloc leader Viktor Yushchenko and 26.4 per cent of votes for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, if the second round of [presidential] elections [scheduled for 31 October] took place on 23-30 April 2004, on the day of the recent opinion poll conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Fund and the Kiev international institute of sociology. The poll results were made public today at a round-table meeting called "Public opinion of the Ukrainian population-May 2004", which was attended by the fund's scientific head and senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Iryna Bekeshkina, and the president of the Kiev international institute of sociology and professor of the National University Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Valeriy Khmelko. According to their data, the previous poll, held a month ago, showed that Yushchenko would have mustered some 36.4 per cent of votes, while Yanukovych 32.4 per cent of votes in the second round. Khmelko said a trend towards a wider gap between the ratings of Yanukovych and Yushchenko emerged after events in [western Ukrainian town of] Mukacheve [a controversial mayoral poll in which Western observers and the Ukrainian opposition say the vote was rigged in favour of a progovernment candidate]. [Passage omitted: changes in Yushchenko and Yanukovych's ratings across Ukrainian regions] Viktor Yushchenko, Yes to Prosperity Campaign, April-May, 2004. Those attending the meeting also made public possible ratings of presidential contenders in the first round, if the election were held on the day of the poll (23-30 April). In particular, 27.3 per cent of Ukrainians would vote for Yushchenko, 17.8 per cent for Yanukovych, 10.4 per cent for [Communist leader] Petro Symonenko, 7.8 per cent for [Socialist leader] Oleksandr Moroz, 3.3 per cent for [Progressive Socialist Party leader] Nataliya Vitrenko. Some 11.7 per cent would vote against all candidates, 8.5 per cent would abstain from voting and 13.3 per cent failed to give any answer. The Democratic Initiatives Fund and the Kiev international institute of sociology polled 2,025 people, covering Ukraine's adult population across all Ukrainian regions according to the main socio-demographic indicators, with a deviation of no more than 2.2 per cent. FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY

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