No major violations in Ukraine's general election: official

KIEV, March 31 (Xinhua) -- No major violations have been recorded in Ukraine's presidential election till 04:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT), secretary of the Central Electoral Commission Natalia Bernatska said on Sunday.

"No systemic violations have been registered during the voting. There are isolated cases, but it is Normal for any voting in any election," Bernatska told reporters during a media briefing.

Meanwhile, the press service of the Interior Ministry said that till 05:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) there were 1,360 reports of violations of the law related to the election process.

Most violations concerned illegal campaigning for certain candidates, taking pictures of the paper ballots and bribery of voters, the ministry said on Facebook.

Voting for the presidential election in Ukraine kicked off at 08:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Sunday with a record number of 39 candidates competing for the presidency. The polling stations closed at 08:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).

A total of 134,381 law enforcement personnel have been deployed across Ukraine to ensure the elections proceed peacefully.