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Ukraine votes in poll crucial for Kuchma's future
By Elizabeth Piper

KIEV, March 31 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma predicted victory on Sunday for parties supporting him in a parliamentary election marked by charges of vote-rigging and growing calls from opposition parties for his impeachment.

The fragmented opposition has accused pro-Kuchma parties of Soviet-style media manipulation and widespread election violations during a brutish campaign, marred on its eve by the murder of a parliamentary candidate.

The president, who survived a political crisis last year over his alleged involvement in the murder of a reporter critical of his rule, has denied the charges and said he hoped for stability after the election.

The West sees the election, which is crucial for Kuchma if he wants constitutional changes to allow him to run for a third presidential term in two years time, as a key test of Ukraine's young democracy and commitment to reforms.

Decked in the yellow and blue national flag, Ukrainians milled around the capital's main street, where rival politicians predicted victory within hours of the polls opening.

Kuchma, whose wavering policies over six years allowed corruption to flourish and the economy to stagnate, said he had voted for the conservative head of his administration.

"The development of Ukraine will remain the same," Kuchma said after voting at a school in central Kiev, adding that the election would be a prelude for a 2004 presidential poll.

"I hope that commonsense will prevail. Ukraine's future hangs on this election -- a choice between development and stagnation."

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Some 37 million voters are registered in the state about the size of France. First results are due early on Monday with exit polls available soon after voting ends at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT).

Western officials and investors are closely watching the ballot -- the third since Ukraine won independence in 1991 -- and are keen to see the country embrace stalled reforms and become a stable buffer zone to an expanding European Union.

Almost 1,000 foreign observers, led by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, are present.

The three-month election campaign pitted a reformist former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, against Volodymyr Lytvyn, head of Kuchma's administration. Lytvyn, leader of For United Ukraine, forecast a majority for his party.

"The bloc has support, we will get the largest number of votes and become the largest faction in parliament," he said, dismissing allegations of vote-fixing.

The victory of the so-called party of power is vital if Kuchma is to secure the constitutional change needed to allow him to seek re-election in 2004. But polls show his bloc trailing the second-placed Communists, who vow to slow reforms.

Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said he would push for Kuchma's impeachment if his party won.

"We shall continue to insist that our bill on the impeachment procedure be considered in parliament," Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Symonenko as saying.

Yulia Tymoshenko, an outspoken critic of Kuchma and one of Ukraine's most charismatic politicians, said her opposition bloc would also lobby for his removal. "I have no doubt that the authorities are preparing to falsify the results," she said.

Yushchenko, clear opinion poll favourite among opposition parties, predicted victory for liberals.

"I think that this year democratic forces will beat the leftists for the first time...I am convinced of that," he said.

Yushchenko won a large following when he helped implement reforms that paid previously withheld wages and pensions.

He has led a chorus of complaints over Soviet-style ballot-rigging, media manipulation and intimidation. The election was also marred by the murder of a little-known pro-Kuchma candidate in western Ukraine on Friday.

Concerns over media freedoms deepened when the headless corpse of reporter Georgiy Gongadze was found in November 2000. The release of tapes in which a voice alleged to be Kuchma's discussed Gongadze's kidnap sparked Kiev's biggest political scandal in a decade. Kuchma has denied any involvement.

(Additional reporting by Olena Horodetska)