Ruling party leads Ukraine vote October 29, 2012 -- Updated 0927 GMT (1727 HKT) Fireworks are launched in Kiev by supporters of President Viktor Yanukovich's Party of Regions on October 28, 2012. Yanukovich's ruling party leads early results with 35.4% of votes Opposition parties have strong showings; United Opposition coalition gets 21.7% Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Ukraine's ruling party holds a solid, early lead in parliamentary election results posted Monday in a contest seen as a test for democracy in the former Soviet republic. President Viktor Yanukovich's Party of Regions took 35.4% of the vote in a field of five parties expected to hold seats in parliament, according to the Central Electoral Commission. The United Opposition coalition, organized by jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her allies, followed with 21.7%. The election website says about 41% of the ballots have been counted. The Communist Party held third with 15%. Running fourth, with 12.9%, was the Udar ("Punch") party of heavyweight boxing champ Vitali Klitchko. And the Svoboda ("Freedom") party was fifth with 8.1%, according to the commission. Ukraine court rejects Tymoshenko's appeal Yurii Miroshnychenko, Yanukovich's official representative in parliament, said closed-circuit television cameras were installed in every polling station and thousands of Ukrainian and international observers were present to watch the balloting. But international observers have expressed concern about the use of government resources by Party of Regions candidates, the almost-complete absence of independent media coverage, and the intimidation of opposition activists. And United Opposition was already raising alarms Sunday afternoon about fraud at the polls. The campaign was very tough, extremely tough. Intimidation, they purchased the voters, they intimidated the members of the election commissions," Yatsenyuk said. So they did their utmost with a an iron fist to do something to win the elections, but look at the results of the exit polls. They didn't succeed.