KIEV, Oct. 29 - President Victor Yanukovich's Regions Party was on course on Monday to secure a new parliamentary majority, but international monitors condemned the election as flawed and a step back.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called the vote a setback to Ukraine’s democratic and European aspirations. That assessment could lead to a further freeze in Kiev’s ties with the West and push it closer to Russia.

The monitoring team from the 56-nation OSCE, which sent more than 600 observers, criticized the way the vote had been conducted and the imprisonment of Yanukovich's rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.

"Certain aspects of the pre-election period constituted a step backwards compared with recent national elections," said the OSCE - meaning a decline since Yanukovych was elected in February 2010 in a poll judged fair by Western governments.

Monitors said the election was marred by the absence of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and another opposition leader, the ruling party’s use of government funding for the campaign and the skewed media coverage that favored the ruling party. While the voting process got positive ratings at most polling stations observed, the vote tallying lacked transparency, the group said.

“Considering the abuse of power and the excessive role of money in this election, democratic progress appears to have reversed in Ukraine,” said Walburga Habsburg Douglas, the special coordinator who led the OSCE election observation mission. “We do not think that this election was fair because it was not level.”

“Ukrainians deserved better from these elections,” said Andreas Gross, the Head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegation. “Unfortunately, the great democratic potential of Ukrainian society was not realized in yesterday’s vote.”

Yanukovych’s Regions Party was leading in the count with 34% of the vote. Tymoshenko’s pro-Western party was second with 23%, trailed by the Communists, Yanukovych’s traditional allies, with 15%. Another liberal party, Udar (Punch), led by world boxing champion Vitali Klichko had 13% and the nationalist Svoboda, or Freedom, party had 9%.

Yanukovych’s party benefited strongly from an electoral change last year that replaced the strictly proportional electoral system with a mixed one, in which half of parliament’s seats are elected based on party lists and the other half in individual races, The Associated Press reported.

Despite a combined strong showing of opposition parties, Yanukovych’s party was poised to retain its parliamentary majority as its candidates were expected to take the lead in individual races, benefitting from greater access to government funds and the opposition’s fielding of multiple candidates.

Tymoshenko’s party alleged widespread violations such as vote-buying and multiple voting. Tymoshenko, who was sentenced last year to seven years in prison for abuse of office in a trial condemned by the West as politically motivated, launched a hunger strike to protest the vote violations.

The Regions Party defended Sunday’s election, saying it reflected the people’s will.

“We received a great credit of trust from the voters who said that we are moving down the right path,” said Yanukovych adviser Hanna Herman, The Associated Press reported.

The opposition tapped into the anger over Tymoshenko’s jailing, the country’s rampant corruption and a stagnant economy to make a strong showing in the proportional section of the vote. It remains to be seen whether Tymoshenko’s group, Klichko’s party and the radical Svoboda can form a strong alliance. (ap/ez)