KIEV, March 27 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko??™s Our Ukraine party was set to suffer a bitter defeat at Sunday??™s general election as voters had massively supported two of its major competitors, exit poll data suggested.

As widely expected, the Regions Party, an opposition group, had scored the most votes at the election. But, in what appears to be the shock result, a group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko beat Our Ukraine into a third place.