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Yushchenko (right) appears to be the more popular of the two Viktors (Agencies)

Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in the re-run of the presidential election, as early results indicate a clear lead.

Incomplete official results put Mr Yushchenko 18 percentage points ahead of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Counting continues in a poll observed by about 12,000 foreign monitors.

The original vote, won by Mr Yanukovych last month, was annulled after fraud. Correspondents say the margin of victory is vital in a divided nation.

At about 0000 GMT, Mr Yushchenko told reporters: "I want to say this is a victory of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation. We were independent for 14 years, today we became free.

"Today, in Ukraine, a new political year has begun. This is the beginning of a new epoch , the beginning of a new great democracy."

Tens of thousands of jubilant opposition supporters, in their distinctive orange colours, gathered in Independence Square in central Kiev late on Sunday.

They celebrated the anticipated victory with a concert and a fireworks display.

One exit poll suggested that the pro-Western Mr Yushchenko had won by 15 percentage points, and another by 20 points.

Early results from Ukraine's election commission later put his lead at 18 points - although the figure, based on 34% of ballots cast, is expected to change.

Many Ukrainians, going back to the polls for the third time in less than two months, said they wanted to put an end to the country's bitter political crisis .

"Everybody is tired. I am hoping this will be the last round," Lidia Karpenko, 55, told AFP news agency in Kiev.

Public support for Mr Yanukovych is strong in the industrialised east and the south of the country.

However, the candidate once seen as the favourite of the Ukrainian establishment and neighbouring Russia appeared to be preparing for defeat as polls closed.

"If we fail, we will form a strong opposition," he said. Mr Yanukovych, however, has not so far not conceded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will accept, and work with, whoever wins.

The Ukrainian Committee of Voters, a voters' rights organisation, said in an initial statement it could see no grounds to talk about mass irregularities in Sunday's re-run.

(Agencies)

epoch: a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event（新紀(jì)元，時代，時期）