Pro-Soviet Leader Declares Victory In Ukrainian Elections
Pro-Soviet Leader Declares Victory In Ukrainian Elections
Quote:
Victor Yanukovich, the pro-Soviet leader of the Regions Party, declared victory in Sunday's Ukrainian elections after national exit polls showed his party with a third of the vote. But Ukraine's charismatic Yulia Tymoshenko, who became a world figure with her Orange Revolution a year ago, announced she was "practically ready" to form a coalition of liberal parties while serving as premier.
The final election result was still in doubt by midnight local time, but it was clear that incumbent Viktor Yushchenko had lost considerable ground in the year since taking over as president. Sunday's exit polls indicated Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party was third in the polls with just under 14 per cent of the vote, far behind Yanukovich's pro-Soviet party with 33 per cent, and Tymoshenko's group, which was second with an estimated 23 per cent.
The election will not remove Yushchenko as Ukraine's president, a position he won in 2004 after mass Orange Revolution protests forced incumbent Yanukovich to step down. But the vote will limit his powers. This election was held to choose party members, not the president, in much the same way that the United States has congressional and presidential races in alternate years. But this election was more important than most because recent constitutional reforms have given the parliamentary members more power than ever before. The likely outcome, observers say, is a harried burst of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring as the party leaders try to form a coalition government.
Tymoshenko said she is close to forming a coalition of pro-liberal parties that would run the country.
"I believe that this coalition agreement will be signed. I see no need to adjust this coalition," she told Reuters. "In this coalition agreement ... it is said that the political group holding first place has the right to propose a candidate to head the government. Our political aim will be to follow the path the country chose in the last presidential election."
But the pro-Soviet Yanukovich is also trying to pull a coalition together so he can return to power after two years in opposition.
"Our victory will open a new page in the history of Ukraine," Yanukovich said. "We are ready to work together with any political party."
