News & Politics - Ukrainian Revolution

X-6_494 · 12-11-2004, 09:23 AM

I'm sure a lot of people here have heard of the Orange revolution happening in Ukraine right now - I'm glad there are new elections on dec. 26. Let's hope there won't be any corruption or poisonning this time.

latest:
Ukraine rivals gear up for rematch with Yushchenko confident, PM bitter

Quote:

KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's presidential rivals geared up for a rematch vote, with the pro-West opposition leader confident of winning and the Moscow-friendly prime minister claiming he no longer represented a "shameful" ruling regime.

Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who had exchanged harsh rhetoric with the West over Ukraine's political crisis, in an about turn said he would be "pleased" if the former Soviet republic joined the European Union (news - web sites).

Ukraine's candidates will face off in a December 26 re-run vote, their third contest in two months that was ordered by the supreme court after a disputed runoff on November 21 sparked the worst political crisis in the nation's 13 years of independence.

When asked what percentage of the vote he expected to receive in the upcoming poll, a calm and confident Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition standard bearer, told a packed press conference: "I would say modestly it should be around 60 percent."

A visibly agitated Viktor Yanukovich, by contrast, evaded giving a direct answer several times to a a smaller gathering of reporters, and finally only said: "God willing we'll win."

The prime minister, whom outgoing leader Leonid Kuchma had initially groomed as his successor, changed tack and now painted himself as an outsider fighting both the opposition and the ruling regime.

"I am disappointed that I trusted those cowards and traitors with whom I worked under this government... this shameful government," Yanukovich said, in a barely veiled reference to Kuchma.

Kuchma, who had backed Yanukovich to replace him after a decade at Ukraine's helm, is believed to have withdrawn his support in exchange for opposition backing of his favored legislation.

The legislation, an amendment transferring presidential powers to parliament, was part of a compromise bill that Kuchma and Yushchenko hammered out in order to end two weeks of mass opposition protests and political impasse sparked by the November 21 vote.

Yanukovich had originally won the poll, but was later stripped of victory by the supreme court that ruled it was marred by fraud in favor of the government candidate and ordered a new ballot.

As part of the compromise, pro-government parties agreed to opposition demands to amend the electoral law and replace the central election commission in order to prevent fraud in the upcoming ballot.

"We're going to have minimal fraud on December 26," Yushchenko told reporters Friday, adding that he was confident he would get support in Yanukovich's bastions in the southeast.

"There will be a time when people will learn that I was born on the east side of the Dniepr river and that I'm for development of every language in Ukraine, including Russian," he said.

With his political fortunes sagging, Yanukovich challenged his rival to debate him before the next election.

The central electoral commission announced late Friday that the two presidential rivals had agree to square off in a live television debate on December 20.

The Interfax-Ukraine news agency said the debate would be broadcast live on the public UT-1 television channel.

The two rivals had already debated each other before the November 21 presidential runoff.

Campaigning for the re-run vote is due to kick off on Sunday.

Separately, Yushchenko repeated his charges that a mysterious illness that struck him in September, severely disfiguring his face, was a murder attempt.

"I believe now more and more that what happened to me was an act of a settling of political scores," Yushchenko said. "The aim was to kill me."

Yushchenko said he would make public the final test results, which could become available in a few days, and added that he could return to a Vienna hospital for further analyses this weekend.

Meanwhile at the Kremlin, Putin said he would welcome Ukraine joining the EU, as favored by Yushchenko.

"If Ukraine wants to enter the EU and is welcomed there, then we can only be pleased," he said.

His comments marked a sharp departure from the bombast that Russia had directed at the European Union and Washington as Ukraine's political crisis unfurled.

"The prime minister, whom outgoing leader Leonid Kuchma had initially groomed as his successor, changed tack and now painted himself as an outsider fighting both the opposition and the ruling regime.

"I am disappointed that I trusted those cowards and traitors with whom I worked under this government... this shameful government," Yanukovich said, in a barely veiled reference to Kuchma."

Heh. That's pretty hypocritical of Yanukovich, seeing how he probably wouldn't have said anything had the fraud not been contested/noticed.

opposition leader Viktor Yuschenko before/after. Wow. Hard to think it's only "something he ate" like Putin implied.

Katis · 12-13-2004, 01:21 PM

I've been following this a little bit but not too closely. There is a woman at my work from the Ukraine who has lived in the U.S. for 5 or 6 years. Her English isn't perfect but she said that Yanukovich is a "crazy man", and that he was in prison/jail for something?

X-6_494 · 12-14-2004, 05:11 PM

Yanukovich was sentenced for what I don't know - Kuchma got him out of jail and made him prime minister. A puppet. And now he's saying he was never really part of the party.

Milt Palacio · 12-14-2004, 05:23 PM

Thank god they didn't let him get away with hijacking the election.

If we don't have a true democracy, we don't have anything.

X-6_494 · 12-14-2004, 05:28 PM

Hopefully the reports confirming Yuschenko's poisonning will seriously hurt Yanukovich's campaign, even in the pro-Russian areas.

So inspiring to see thousands of people take the streets. sigh.


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