In the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, people have been casting ballots for a new parliament after a particularly eventful year. Many of the votes were set to go to parties linked with the Maidan pro-EU protests, reports GHN based on DW.
The clocks having gone forward, most of Kyiv's inhabitants appeared to have used their extra hour by staying in bed for a little longer.
In the morning, only a trickle of people were up and about. Policemen and soldiers were in the majority on the streets. And on the subway; fear of a terrorist attack appears to loom large - especially on the day that Ukraine elects a new parliament.
In a low-rise area of town on the western outskirts of Kyiv, an elderly couple leaves a polling station set up inside in a school. They hesitate before saying which party they have voted for. They don't want to be photographed or give their name. It is perhaps a sign of insecurity in a time of war.
The new parliament is being elected against a background of ongoing conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. "We voted for Swoboda," said the woman, finally. She looked around to see if anyone else was listening. "The party should make sure that corruption is finally eradicated.
"The oligarchs have to lose their power," her husband adds. "That's why President Petro Poroshenko's party did not get my vote." Poroshenko, a billionaire and until recently a businessman, is also considered to be an oligarch. Some, like the man, believe that the nationalists will ensure that Poroshenko doesn't have too much power.
The nationalist Swoboda (Freedom) party garnered about 10 percent of the vote in the previous election in 2012 - mostly in Kyiv and western Ukraine. Swoboda was one of the driving forces during the opposition protests last winter. Nowadays their representatives sit as part of the government, but their popularity is on the slide.