Ukraine presidential race to be close in end

Analysts say Yanukovych’s preliminary 10-point lead - with 35 percent of Sunday’s vote compared with 25 percent for Tymoshenko - is misleading because she is likely to pick up most of the first-round votes cast for the 16 other candidates who ran. Almost 67 percent of Ukraine’s 36.5 million or so eligible voters cast ballots, and 99.5 percent of votes had been counted by late Monday.

Some analysts say Tymoshenko’s political skills and sharp instincts will give her the edge in the runoff.

“Yanukovych’s voter base has been exhausted. Although it was strong and compact and never betrayed him, it did not grow,’’ said Viktor Nebozhenko, director of the sociology institute Ukrainian Barometer. “Tymoshenko, as a great communicator, has a chance to win this election.’’

It is rare for a woman to hold high political office in the former Soviet Union, and Tymoshenko has her detractors. But many Ukrainian women see her as a role model, even if they don’t always admire her political moves.

Some polls show Tymoshenko trailing Yanukovych, but analysts say much of her support comes from rural areas, where voters are harder for surveys to reach.