See: Slow Saturday Special: Ukranian Orange Drops to Ground
Been ripe for a while:
"Ousted leader leads Ukraine race; Exit polls suggest victory in bitter presidental vote" by Philip P. Pan, Washington Post | February 8, 2010
Isn't it amazing that the only time in a century that exit polls were wrong was in the 2004 AmeriKan presidential race?
Not that it would have mattered, as we have seen over the last 3+ years.
MOSCOW - The party boss who was accused of election fraud and ousted by Ukraine’s peaceful Orange Revolution appeared on the verge of pulling off a remarkable comeback yesterday, with exit polls suggesting that he had prevailed in a bitter presidential race and won the office denied him by mass protests five years ago.
Viktor Yanukovych, a former electrician once dismissed as a corrupt Kremlin lackey, received 48 to 50 percent of the vote, the polls found. He edged out Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a race that both had cast as a referendum on the pro-West, pro-democracy uprising that captivated the world in late 2004.
Tymoshenko was forecast to finish with 44 to 45 percent, but the heroine of the Orange Revolution seemed unlikely to concede defeat quickly. As the official tally continued into the night, her campaign said Yanukovych’s lead fell within the margin of error of most of the polls.
Yanukovych claimed victory early today, but Tymoshenko refused to concede, saying the race was too close to call....
After warning for weeks that Yanukovych would attempt to steal the presidency again, the Tymoshenko campaign said it would challenge the vote at more than 1,000 polling stations where it encountered irregularities. Some analysts said that could swing the outcome by as much as 3 percent.
Tymoshenko urged her supporters to fight to have every ballot counted, and said her team would be monitoring the counting process closely....
Her support was dwindling before the vote while the other guy was drawing thousands!
A disputed election would prolong the political instability that has affected this former Soviet republic for much of the past five years.
And CUI BONO as they draw closer to Russia, 'eh, USrael?
Tymoshenko the tool?
It could also deal another blow to Ukraine’s battered economy, one of the hardest hit by the global financial crisis, and hamper efforts to unfreeze a $16.4 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Better off without that. Why do you think they are battered?
Without acknowledging or apologizing for the widely documented vote falsification in his last bid for the presidency, Yanukovych, 59, leader of the opposition Party of Regions, ran a classic anti-incumbent campaign that pinned the blame for the nation’s problems on Tymoshenko, 49. With the help of an American political consultant, he also recast his image as the Kremlin’s favored candidate, carefully highlighting his independence from Moscow and pledging to continue efforts to integrate Ukraine with Europe.
And we can't have that happen, can we, neo-con globalists?
Not with peace, anyway.
Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko, the Orange Revolution leader whose face was disfigured in a poisoning blamed on Russian secret services, was knocked out in the first round of the election last month. Partners in the democratic uprising in 2004, he and Tymoshenko turned against each other soon after being swept into power.
That always happens with our guys!
Their bitter rivalry paralyzed the government for most of the past five years, and Yushchenko refused to endorse her in the second round, a decision that analysts said could have cost her the race....
Yeah, all right, whatever.
I don't even like politics or analysis anymore.
And I do believe the world is sending the Queen of the Ukraine a message:
"Monitors praise Ukraine vote; Opposition leader appears to have won presidency" by Simon Shuster, Associated Press | February 9, 2010
KIEV - International monitors yesterday hailed Ukraine’s presidential election as transparent and honest, bolstering opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych’s claim of victory and leaving Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a strategic bind.
Tymoshenko, who was the charismatic catalyst of the 2004 Orange Revolution mass protests, had said she would call supporters into the streets if she deemed Sunday’s election fraudulent.
But although she has signaled she will challenge the outcome in the courts, she issued no protest call yesterday and canceled two news conferences as she apparently weighed her options.
International observers’ criticism of the 2004 presidential election lent significant weight to the Orange protests, which ended with a court-ordered revote in which Yanukovych was defeated by Viktor Yushchenko. This time, the observers’ imprimatur could undermine any call for protest....
Yeah, that's a message: Stability is more important than you, lady.
Besides, the elections are probably like here; power bases have both candidates covered while the voter thinks he is getting a choice.
A Yanukovych victory would close a chapter in the country’s political history by ousting the pro-Western leadership of the past five years, which foundered because of internal divisions, fierce opposition from Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, and the collapse of the economy.
Yeah, how come every time we take over a country it goes down the toilet, America?
As president, Yanukovych would try to balance relations with Moscow against Europe, tilting to Moscow where his Orange Revolution predecessors tilted West.
There is your rub.
But his narrow mandate, Ukraine’s deeply divided society, and the moribund economy will limit his ability to implement desperately needed political changes.
Oh, so the place continues to be a s*** hole despite the change, huh?
Hi, Ukrainians, nice to meet ya!
In the view of many, the role of the presidency itself needs to be restored to the status it held before a compromise thrashed out between Yushchenko and his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, stripped the presidency of much of its power....
So this is MUCH ADO and PRINT about a rather meaningless office and about a title?
The settlement left the presidency woefully prone to political blackmail at the hands of Parliament and the Cabinet.
We got AIPAC!
Who controls your politics?
The international monitors issued a joint statement saying “the professional, transparent, and honest voting and counting should serve as a solid foundation for a peaceful transition of power.’’
Hey, I'M ALWAYS for THOSE!!!!
Joao Soares, head of the observation mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, said the vote was an impressive display of a democratic election and a victory for the people of Ukraine.
Well, that would be one somewhere I guess.
In comments apparently directed at Tymoshenko, he urged Ukraine’s politicians to heed the official vote tally....
I wonder if she will.
About 5,000 Yanukovych supporters assembled yesterday morning near a stage in Kiev adorned with the slogan “Ukrainians for a Fair Election,’’ contending to defend the results of the election.
Supporters danced in heavy winter coats in front of the Central Election Commission as a series of daylong concerts got underway despite frigid temperatures and flurries.
Where is that dang global warming when you really need it?
Tymoshenko has not called her supporters into the streets. Even the lone tent that had stood outside the Central Election Commission on Friday was gone.
Translation: She lost and is done.
--more--"
But does she know that?
KIEV - Ukraine’s prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, plans to challenge the results of the presidential runoff that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appears to have won, her campaign said yesterday.
Tymoshenko has canceled two appearances since the polls closed Sunday night. Her allies say she will not concede until appeals have run their course and recounts have taken place at a number of polling stations.
The official announcement of the results is expected today. Thousands of Yanukovych supporters are gathering outside the headquarters of the Central Election Commission in a rally organized to defend the results of the election....
Didn't see a follow up in the Globe today so what am I to think?
Unlike past elections in Ukraine, this vote has been praised by international monitors as free and fair. The US Embassy hailed it as “another step in the consolidation of Ukraine’s democracy.’’
Oh, EVEN the U.S. is cutting her loose!!
The respected Ukrainskaya Pravda website and Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency said Tymoshenko told party officials she will “never recognize’’ the legitimacy of Sunday’s runoff and will demand a third round of voting.
At what CO$T to voters?
--more--"
Interesting whacks from my printed page:
Tymoshenko's allies say the election was marred by fraud.
Aren't they all?
Tymoshenko has not yet issued any calls for mass protests against the vote.
Must not have then, otherwise it would be in my agenda-pushing war-promoter, right?
