RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Al Jazeera English - Europe - Yanukovich 'wins' Ukraine run-off
iktor Yanukovich, Ukraine's opposition leader, has narrowly won the presidential election against Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister, exit polls said.
The National Exit Poll, a consortium partly funded by
Western embassies, said Yanukovich had secured
48.7 per cent of Sunday's vote against Tymoshenko's 45.5 per cent.
Another exit poll by ICTV said Yanukovich won 49.8 per cent of the vote against Tymoshenko's 45.2 per cent.
The victory by Yanukovich, if confirmed by official results, marks a remarkable comeback by the 59-year-old ex-mechanic who was disgraced in 2004 by the "Orange Revolution" mass street protests which Tymoshenko led.
Voters braved snow and subzero temperatures as they headed to the polls on Sunday.
"In the first round it was as high as 65 per cent, this time it could be even higher," Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, said.
Five years on
Many commentators had predicted a narrow victory for Yanukovich, but Tymoshenko is threatening to summon protesters in a replay of the 2004 Orange Revolution if she deems the second-round election unfair.
in depth
Most analysts say the final vote will be close and expect both sides to resort to legal manoeuvring and demonstrations if defeat looms.
Forced to step down in the Orange Revolution, the 59-year-old Yanukovich has enjoyed a narrow lead over Tymoshenko during the campaign.
The euphoria of the 2004 revolution has evaporated after five years of falling living standards and paralysing political squabbles between the president and the prime minister.
"Yankuovich has learnt an awful lot in the last five years since the Orange Revolution," our correspondent said.
"Back then it was very much felt that he alienated voters in the west of the country - voters who looked towards the European Union for a future for the country - by mentioning the need to maintain strong ties with Russia.
"This time round he has refused to speak at all about anything that may be vaguely controversial. In the words of one analyst, he's played a secure campaigning game plan, making sure he doesn't put anyone off."
East or West
Yanukovich won 10 per cent more of the votes than Tymoshenko in the first round on January 17.
But his rival accused him of cheating after his Regions Party pushed through parliament amendments to voting rules after the first round.
Yanukovich ran a tight campaign and took care not to upset anyone [AFP]
The personal antagonism between Yanukovich and Tymoshenko mirrors the gulf between Ukraine's pro-Russian east and nationalist west.
Both candidates say they want to integrate with Europe while improving ties with Moscow, though Tymoshenko is seen as more enthusiastic about the European Union and Yanukovich is characterised as being closer to Russia.
Any challenges to the election results could stall Ukraine's political recovery and would likely delay talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $16.4bn bail-out programme derailed by breached promises of fiscal restraint.
Both candidates voted early, with Yanukovich narrowly missing a protest by four semi-naked women who forced their way into a Kiev polling station where he was to cast his vote.
The women, members of a small feminist group called Femen, were naked from the waist up and shouted: "Enough raping our democracy."
They were hustled away before Yanukovich arrived, the AFP news agency reported.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
______________________________________________
Good news for Russia
iktor Yanukovich, Ukraine's opposition leader, has narrowly won the presidential election against Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister, exit polls said.
The National Exit Poll, a consortium partly funded by
Western embassies, said Yanukovich had secured
48.7 per cent of Sunday's vote against Tymoshenko's 45.5 per cent.
Another exit poll by ICTV said Yanukovich won 49.8 per cent of the vote against Tymoshenko's 45.2 per cent.
The victory by Yanukovich, if confirmed by official results, marks a remarkable comeback by the 59-year-old ex-mechanic who was disgraced in 2004 by the "Orange Revolution" mass street protests which Tymoshenko led.
Voters braved snow and subzero temperatures as they headed to the polls on Sunday.
"In the first round it was as high as 65 per cent, this time it could be even higher," Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, said.
Five years on
Many commentators had predicted a narrow victory for Yanukovich, but Tymoshenko is threatening to summon protesters in a replay of the 2004 Orange Revolution if she deems the second-round election unfair.
in depth
Most analysts say the final vote will be close and expect both sides to resort to legal manoeuvring and demonstrations if defeat looms.
Forced to step down in the Orange Revolution, the 59-year-old Yanukovich has enjoyed a narrow lead over Tymoshenko during the campaign.
The euphoria of the 2004 revolution has evaporated after five years of falling living standards and paralysing political squabbles between the president and the prime minister.
"Yankuovich has learnt an awful lot in the last five years since the Orange Revolution," our correspondent said.
"Back then it was very much felt that he alienated voters in the west of the country - voters who looked towards the European Union for a future for the country - by mentioning the need to maintain strong ties with Russia.
"This time round he has refused to speak at all about anything that may be vaguely controversial. In the words of one analyst, he's played a secure campaigning game plan, making sure he doesn't put anyone off."
East or West
Yanukovich won 10 per cent more of the votes than Tymoshenko in the first round on January 17.
But his rival accused him of cheating after his Regions Party pushed through parliament amendments to voting rules after the first round.
Yanukovich ran a tight campaign and took care not to upset anyone [AFP]
The personal antagonism between Yanukovich and Tymoshenko mirrors the gulf between Ukraine's pro-Russian east and nationalist west.
Both candidates say they want to integrate with Europe while improving ties with Moscow, though Tymoshenko is seen as more enthusiastic about the European Union and Yanukovich is characterised as being closer to Russia.
Any challenges to the election results could stall Ukraine's political recovery and would likely delay talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $16.4bn bail-out programme derailed by breached promises of fiscal restraint.
Both candidates voted early, with Yanukovich narrowly missing a protest by four semi-naked women who forced their way into a Kiev polling station where he was to cast his vote.
The women, members of a small feminist group called Femen, were naked from the waist up and shouted: "Enough raping our democracy."
They were hustled away before Yanukovich arrived, the AFP news agency reported.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
______________________________________________
Good news for Russia
