Kiev (xn) - With nearly 56 percent of the votes counted, Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich had gained a narrow lead over incumbent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, taking 49.33 percent of the vote in Sunday's presidential run-off.

Presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich makes a statement for the results of exit polls after the second round of Presidential elections in his headquarters in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, on February 7th. (© Xinhua/Mu Liming)

Tymoshenko got 45.02 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission announced early Monday. Earlier, almost all exit polls had given Yanukovich a slim lead over Tymoshenko, ranging from three to five percent.

Yanukovich, a 59-year-old former prime minister, seemed to be sure of victory. Speaking on the Inter TV channel on Sunday night, he advised Tymoshenko to start to prepare for her resignation from the post of prime minister. "I think that Yulia Vladimirovna (Tymoshenko) should be preparing for resignation. She understands this well. In any case I think that such an offer will be made to her," he said.

But Tymoshenko said that it was impossible to speak about election results resting solely on exit-polls, the Interfax reported. "Results announced at the level of exit-polls are mere sociology. That is why now it is too early to make any conclusions, " she was quoted as saying on Sunday night.

If elected, Yanukovich will become the country's fourth president since the former Soviet Union republic won independence in 1991.

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