You really should stop talking to him. That guy know shit about Ukrainian politics, not once did he bring up the fact that The Pro-Russian guy Yanukovych was not elected in majority on the 2nd round,
No. Viktor Yanukovych did obtain a majority of votes at Ukraine's 2010 runoff presidential election indeed.
The two candidates' scores amounted to:
* Viktor Yanukovych : 48,95%
* Yulia Timoshenko : 45,47%
Well, how is he "Democratically" elected when he only have 48.6% of the vote when you need 51??
Because those 48,95% (not 48,6%) relate to overall expressed votes, that is including invalid and blank ballots as well as votes for a special third option offered by the Ukrainian electoral system, termed "Against all" (i.e. an expression of opposition to both candidates).
Indeed, here's what the latter two voting choices garnered:
* Against all : 4,36%
* Invalid (and blank) : 1,19%
Unlike the US system for instance, where ballots do not include an "Against all" option, and where the announced final result does not account for invalid and blank votes, in Ukraine it does.
Elsewhere the percentage of
valid votes obtained by each candidate is considered, in Ukraine however they go with the percentage of
expressed votes, and moreover the Ukrainian election features that extra voting option ("Against all") absent from equivalent elections in other countries.
If we leave out "Against all" votes and invalid / blank ones, in other terms if we only count votes given to either Yanukovych or Timoshenko, Yanukovych won the election with an absolute majority of over 51,84% (48,95 x 100 / (48,95+45,47)).
But you will hear nothing on this from him. And portray him as "Democratically" elected President that got overthrown.
That's correct.
And guess who is agreeing with me on the democratically elected part? None other than international observers dispatched by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) as well as the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) to monitor the election.
The OSCE said there were no indications of serious fraud and described the vote as an
"impressive display" of democracy. Source:
• Yulia Tymoshenko under pressure to concede defeat• Monitors praise 'impressive display' of democracy
www.theguardian.com
Link to the PACE statement:
https://pace.coe.int/en/news/2753
