KIEV, Oct. 28 - Opposition parties were heading for a strong performance in parliamentary elections on Sunday, exit polls suggested, but analysts said the final outcome would mostly depend on 225 majority districts across Ukraine.

The parties opposing policies of President Viktor Yanukovych together scored at least 50% of the vote, indicating strong dissatisfaction with the government.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the united opposition in the absence of Tymoshenko, said: "The exit poll results have shown that the people of Ukraine support the opposition and not the government."

But Yanukovych’s Regions Party, relying on support in eastern and southern regions of the country, was likely to score at least 28% of the vote, according to exit polls, making it the most popular single political group.

“The exit poll data speaks for itself. It is clear the Regions Party has won… These elections signal confidence in the President's policies," Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

A half of 450-seat Parliament is elected in a party-list vote, while another half was elected in the majority districts.

Boris Kolesnikov, deputy prime minister and a senior member of the Regions Party, claimed that the ruling party would probably collect two thirds of the majority seats.

Volodymyr Fesenko, the head of Penta political consultancy, said the Regions Party, together with independents and loyalists will most control the new Parliament.

“They will probably not have a one-party majority, but they can perhaps form it with independent lawmakers that will be elected in majority districts,” Fesenko said.

The opposition Udar party, led by world boxing champion Vitaliy Klichko was likely to win about 15%, while Batkivshchyna, or Fatherland, led by jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, appeared to score better than expected with a projected 24%.

One surprise was a strong showing for the nationalist Svoboda, or Freedom, party, which was heading for 12% of the vote, according to exit polls.

The Central Election Commission, after a four-hour delay, announced the voter turnout at 57.99%, underscoring particularly low turnouts in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, traditional supporters of the Regions Party.

The closely watched election has been described as a test for the commitment to democracy of the European Union’s largest eastern neighbor and could potentially affect its geopolitical trajectory.

Failure to hold a democratic election could worsen Kiev’s relations with the 27-member union. EU leaders last year delayed signing of landmark free trade and association agreements with Ukraine, citing concerns over democracy under the nearly 3-year rule of Yanukovych.

If the exit polls are proven accurate, Klichko, the WBC heavyweight boxing champion, will now enter parliament at the head of his new party after a campaign in which he has been critical of corruption.

He says his party will team up with Yatseniuk and other members of the opposition, including Svoboda, though his refusal to join a pre-election coalition engendered suspicion.

"We do not foresee any joint work with the Regions Party and its Communist ally. We are ready to work with those political parties which propose a European path of development," Klichko said.

But it was the showing of Svoboda, which pursues a strong Ukrainian nationalist agenda and opposes attempts by the Regions to promote the Russian language over Ukrainian, which caught attention on the night.

Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok, a 43-year-old surgeon, pledged to stick by a pre-election agreement and work with Yatsenyuk and other opposition leaders in the new parliament. (tl/ez)