Ukrainian ex-prime minister Victor Yanukovich is favoured to beat Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a run-off for president. Ukrainian ex-prime minister Victor Yanukovych is favoured to beat Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a run-off for president, according to the last opinion polls to be published before the first-round Jan. 17 election.

No contestant is expected to win the first round outright, but Yanukovych and Tymoshenko are widely expected to face each other in a Feb. 7 run-off in the ex-Soviet republic.The polls show little change in support for the key candidates over the past several weeks. A large number of those polled -- more than one third in some surveys -- have not yet decided who will get their vote.

The following are polls from four organisations showing the prospects of the five main contenders, the above two plus President Victor Yushchenko, former Parliament speaker ArseniyYatsenyuk and current speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

The date shows when polling took place.

Ukrainian legislation bans publication of opinion polls for two weeks before an election, or from Jan. 2 onwards.


FIRST ROUND FORECAST

YanukovychTymoshenko Yatsenyuk Lytvyn Yushchenko

Mid-Dec

Sotsys 30.116.7 5.0 2.7 4.0

VUSS 28.322.1 7.9 5.2 4.4

TNS 26.318.6 4.1 3.1 4.2


End-Nov

VUSS 30.0 21.0 8.5 7.1 5.9

Razumkov 28.9 20.3 8.2 3.3 4.9


Mid-Nov

TNS 27.317.4 4.6 2.9 3.8


Oct

Sotsys 28.7 19.0 n/a n/a n/a



SECOND ROUND FORECAST

Yanukovych Tymoshenko Yatsenyuk Lytvyn Yushchenko

Mid-Dec

TNS 34.5 29.9 ---- --

Sotsys42.2 29.9 -- -- --


End of Nov

VUSS 38.5 30.6 -- -- --

Razumkov 35.429.3 -- -- --


Mid-Nov

TNS 36.6 25.8 ---- --