The future's not orange
Viktor Yanukovych on the election campaign trail
Photo: yanukovych.com.ua
Viktor Yanukovych looks set to win a victory in Ukraine’s presidential race, marking an astonishing turnaround for the man who had power snatched from his grasp by the 2004 Orange Revolution.
After counting nearly 97% of votes today, electoral officials said Yanukovych has won 48.34 % of the vote, while rival Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko has 46.05%. Electoral committee spokesman Mykhailo Okhendovsky told reporters that with the remaining votes still to come from Yanukovych’s strongholds in the south and east of the country, the gap with Tymoshenko was expected to increase further.
Ms Tymoshenko has yet to concede defeat and is expected to challenge the results. Election observers, however, say there has been no sign of large scale fraud or vote rigging such as that seen in 2004's disputed elections. This morning the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe hailed the vote as "an impressive display of democratic elections."
Many analysts see Yanukovych's win as the final nail in the coffin of the Orange Revolution that swept current President Viktor Yushchenko and his one-time ally Tymoshenko to power.
Back then the people took to the streets in anger at corruption in the old post-Soviet leadership and claims the elections had been rigged in pro-Moscow candidate Yanukovych's favour.
Today's result is largely seen as a backlash against the "Orange" leadership's failure to keep its promises on cutting corruption and boosting the economy.
This means that although Tymoshenko, generally perceived as the more Western-leading candidate, is threatening to make claims of election fraud again, they are unlikely to fall on eager ears a second time round.
The OSCE and others are now pushing Tymoshenko to admit that the fight is over, effectively warning her that if she digs her heels in then this could endanger the country's stability and threaten its hopes of economic recovery.
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