Oekraïense presidentsverkiezingen, de oppositie op winst

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Verkiezingen / 'Oekraïne stemt nu zonder angst'
door Wendelmoet Boersema
2004-12-24

De Oranje revolutie heeft de Oekraïners bevrijd van hun angst voor de autoriteiten. Toch is de laatste ronde van de presidentsverkiezingen deze zondag geen gelopen race.


MOSKOU - De wind giert door de mobiele telefoon van Kiril Trandasil, afgevaardigde van het parlement op het schiereiland de Krim. Trandasil voert als een van de weinigen in deze pro-Russische autonome republiek van Oekraïne voor de derde keer campagne voor oppositie-kandidaat Viktor Joesjtsjenko. ,,De burgemeester van het dorp heeft net onze bijeenkomst verboden, maar we laten ons niet tegenhouden. Ik klim zo het podium op voor mijn toespraak'', buldert Trandasil in zijn toestel.

De verkiezingsstrijd in Oekraine heeft zijn scherpe kanten niet verloren. Toch is er iets veranderd sinds de oranje menigtes de straten van Kiev en andere steden twee weken lang bezet hielden. ,,We hebben onze kracht gevoeld en kunnen nu hopen op eerlijker verkiezingen'', aldus afgevaardigde Trandasil. ,,Bij de plaatselijke kiescomités zijn de mensen ontslagen die schaamteloos voor kandidaat Viktor Janoekovitsj werkten. En er zijn zondag meer waarnemers dan ooit.''

In totaal zullen zondag 12000 waarnemers toezien op de stemming in de 24 Oekraïense regio's, en de autonome republiek De Krim. De OVSE stuurt 1000 mensen, de EU doneerde 3 miljoen euro voor waarnemers uit Europa en uit de voormalige Sovjet-Unie. De leden van het Centrale Kies comité, door de hoogste rechters van het land begin december openlijk veroordeeld voor fraude, zijn vervangen.

De afgelopen dagen leek Janoekovitsj al voorzichtig te berusten in een nederlaag. In de peilingen staat de huidige premier ruim tien procent achter op zijn tegenstander Joesjtsjenko. Janoekovitsj hengelde in het tv-debat openlijk naar een plekje in de regering, mocht hij verliezen. Maar Joesjtsjenko zei gisteren dat daarvan geen sprake zal zijn.

De kracht van de Oekraïense civil society -het scala aan maatschappelijke en politieke organisaties dat de motor vormde achter de straatprotesten- kwam ook voor experts onverwacht.


,,Een ongeëvenaard verzet'', aldus socioloog Andriy Bytsjenko van het onafhankelijke Razoemkov-Centrum. ,,Zelfs toen Oekraine onafhankelijkheid verwierf, was er niet zo'n enthousiasme en doorzettingsvermogen. Burgers hebben hun angst om voor hun mening uit te komen verloren. Dat is voelbaar op straat en we meten het ook in ons onderzoek'', aldus Bytsjenko. Volgens hem zijn ook de media de laatste drie weken meetbaar objectiever. ,,Voorheen was het veel en goed over Janoekovitsj, weinig en slecht over Joesjtsjenko.''

Pora wil de opgedane ervaring na de verkiezingen inzetten bij steun aan burgerbewegingen in landen als Wit-Rusland, Armenië en Kazachstan. Volgens Joesov zijn er 'prille plannen' om als politieke unie verder te gaan.

Het Onafhankelijkheidsplein in Kiev, het epicentrum van de straatprotesten van de opposite, zal zondagavond meteen na het sluiten van stembussen opnieuw volstromen met oranje aanhang. Dan zullen de resultaten van de exit-polls bekend zijn. Afgelopen woensdag hield Joesjtsjenko op het plein een laatste verkiezingstoespraak. Katja Demtsjoek was erbij. ,,Ik had al bijna heimwee naar onze dagelijkse demonstraties'', zegt Demtsjoek. ,,Het waren de belangrijkste momenten in mijn leven. Ik hoop dat we dit jaar de straten nog eenmaal oranje kunnen kleuren.''

Helemaal gerust op een glad verloop is ze niet. ,,Ik ben zondag opnieuw waarneemster voor Joesjtsjenko. Wij zullen het tellen van de stemmen op camera vastleggen, zodat ze ons niets kunnen verwijten.''

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Ukrainians hold election re-run

Ukrainians have begun voting for a new president in a repeat ballot called after outrage over fraud led to the cancellation of the result.
Pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko is strongly tipped to defeat Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, whose 21 November win was widely discredited.

Correspondents say the margin of victory will be almost as important in a country with a sharp east-west split.

About 12,000 foreign observers are monitoring the vote across the country.

Thousands of supporters of Mr Yushchenko, in their distinctive orange colours, are camped out in freezing conditions on the main street in the capital, Kiev

They have been on the Khreshchatyk since Mr Yushchenko called foul after the November result was announced.

Public support for Mr Yanukovych is still strong in the industrialised east and the south of the country.

However, the candidate once seen as the favourite of the Ukrainian establishment and neighbouring Russia trailed badly in final opinion polls - up to 14 points behind the Western-orientated Mr Yushchenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will accept, and work with, whoever wins the poll on Sunday.

'No alternative'

In a dramatic last-minute intervention on Saturday, Ukraine's Constitutional Court overturned curbs on voting from home - one of the electoral changes brought in after the November result was cancelled.

The move restores the right to a ballot of a broad range of people unable to attend a polling station, and is thought to favour Yanukovych supporters.

They were given until 2000 (1800 GMT) on Saturday to apply for a vote.

Home voting was a key area of contention between the rival camps, with accusations that it was used to perpetrate fraud through the stuffing of ballot boxes.

However, the court's ruling makes it far less likely that Sunday's result can be challenged on constitutional grounds by either side.

Yaroslav Davydovych, head of the national election commission, stressed that the election would not be affected.

"Voting must take place tomorrow," he told reporters on Saturday.

"Let me emphasise this again - there is no alternative. Within a few days, we will mark half a year since the beginning of the election campaign."

Bitter campaign

Allegations of vote-rigging were just part of a campaign characterised by alleged dirty tricks.

In a televised debate between the two rivals, which at times seemed to degenerate into a shouting match, Mr Yushchenko accused the government of "trying to steal Ukraine's future".

In Monday's debate, Mr Yanukovych suggested that his former allies, led by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, had joined his rival's "orange coup".

Doctors recently confirmed that Mr Yushchenko, who developed a dramatic disfiguring skin condition in September, had been poisoned with dioxin.

The opposition leader has suggested he was poisoned at a dinner with heads of the Ukrainian security service (SBU) - an allegation denied by the SBU.

Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, head of the largest group of election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he hoped for a definitive result on Sunday.

"It is very much to be hoped because I don't know what the alternatives are," he told Reuters news agency.

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Ukraine: Marathon Election Heading Toward 26 December Resolution
By Askold Krushelnycky

Ukraine's marathon presidential election process has already triggered an "Orange Revolution" and shattered the mould of the country's postcommunist politics. On 26 December it enters its decisive phase with the rerun of an election last month that was declared massively fraudulent by the opposition and international monitors. Ukraine's Supreme Court agreed the vote had been heavily distorted in favor of the government candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and ordered a fresh election. The vote pits opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who advocates Ukraine's entry into NATO and the European Union, against Yanukovych, openly backed by the Kremlin, to replace the outgoing Leonid Kuchma.


Kyiv, 23 December 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko told tens of thousands of supporters in the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, yesterday that although he believed the tide had turned against the government, the election on Sunday (26 December) would not be an easy matter.

He urged them to cast their ballots, keep an eye on polling stations, and to be on their guard against opponents he said may try to disrupt the vote. "Everyone must come out [to the polls] so that the result is totally convincing, so that there is no temptation to cheat or disrupt the ballot," he said.

The opposition says that it suspects that government forces, now facing the likelihood of defeat, may try to wreck the election by using violence or openly stuffing ballot boxes.

Under Ukrainian law, incumbent President Leonid Kuchma could remain in power until the result of new elections -- five months hence.

Hryhoriy Omelchenko, an opposition parliamentarian and former colonel in Ukraine's intelligence forces, claims to have evidence that automatic rifles and other weapons have been distributed to criminal groups linked to politicians in Yanukovych's east Ukrainian support base in the city of Donetsk.

That report could not be independently confirmed, but Omelchenko said he believes any violence could be used as an excuse to nullify the vote. The opposition hopes another guarantee of a fairer vote will be the large number of foreign and Ukrainian election monitors on hand.

The vote has been cast in historic terms. Many politicians and observers say that if Yushchenko wins, Ukraine will make a turn toward the West. They say a major change in policy like this could doom Russian President Vladimir Putin's ambition to build a new Moscow-led economic union comprising Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

The flawed 21 November election brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, with flags, ribbons, and articles of clothing in Yushchenko's orange campaign colors, into the center of Kyiv and other cities.

Yanukovych has tried to rally his supporters by casting the demonstrators as carrying out a "coup d'etat." Addressing a rally of supporters in the southern city of Kirovohrad, Yanukovych repeated that he wants closer ties with Russia. He said he would introduce Russian as a second state language and offer dual Ukrainian-Russian nationality.

"I want you to know that those people who come out to vote for the 'orange coup' in this election are voting against the Ukrainian people. They are acting against those who should be the real owners of Ukrainian land," Yanukovych said.

Yanukovych said tens of thousands of his supporters are prepared to converge on Kyiv if he does not win.

Last month, after the Supreme Court declared the 21 November election fraudulent, the opposition forced through parliament a package of measures designed to limit the scope for cheating on 26 December.

The former head of the Central Election Commission and the prosecutor-general, both accused of colluding in the fraud, were removed. The law has been changed to curb the use of false absentee voter documents to vote multiple times in different polling stations. This was alleged to have given the government candidate 3 million extra votes.

The opposition hopes another guarantee of a fairer vote will be the large number of foreign and Ukrainian election monitors on hand.

Finnish member of parliament Kimmo Kiljunen, a former vice president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, believes the 26 December election will be more honest than the previous ones.

"We should have now fair elections in Ukraine. Now we do have more hope than before and the major reason for the hope, obviously, is that there have been certain changes in the legislation in Ukraine. The absentee voting system is different than [it was] before. Very important, obviously, is that there are certain guarantees that in the electoral committee there are supposed to be observers and representatives from both sides," Kiljunen said.

Yushchenko, whose face remains badly disfigured by dioxin poisoning he blames on the authorities, predicts he will receive at least 60 percent of the vote.

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Bitter Divisions Rife in Ukraine as Voting Nears
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: December 25, 2004

KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 24 - More than a month after a disputed presidential election paralyzed the country and strained international relations, Ukraine prepared for a new vote on Sunday that has raised hopes that a final, amicable end to its deeply divisive political crisis is near. Those hopes may be premature.

Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich, the candidate declared the winner of an election ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court, has asserted that the results of Sunday's vote will be illegitimate and vowed to challenge them in court. His supporters, meanwhile, have threatened to take to the streets in their own version of the mass protests that brought Kiev and other cities to a halt in November.

Demonstrations and legal challenges could prolong the dispute still further, despite a widely held belief here and abroad that victory by his opponent, Viktor A. Yushchenko, is all but inevitable.

Mr. Yanukovich said in an interview late Wednesday night that new election laws aimed at limiting absentee ballots and voting at home, which Mr. Yushchenko's supporters said had been abused to rig November's vote, would disenfranchise millions of voters, including the elderly and disabled.

Four dozen members of Parliament allied with Mr. Yanukovich have already filed a legal challenge with the country's Constitutional Court, which deliberated for a second day on Friday.

"We are going to have new lawsuits," Mr. Yanukovich said, reprising a theme he has repeated over and over as he barnstorms around the country in what amounts to his third race against Mr. Yushchenko. "The election will be considered illegitimate, regardless of who wins."

Since the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month and a subsequent compromise with President Leonid D. Kuchma and Parliament to overhaul the country's political system, Mr. Yushchenko appears well positioned to win. Opinion polls show him leading comfortably heading into Sunday's voting.

Signaling an unease felt by many, though, Mr. Yushchenko has tried to sustain the energy of those who took part in the mass demonstrations against the fraudulent results that briefly declared Mr. Yanukovich the country's next president.

"Each citizen must come out, so that the result is totally convincing, so that there is no temptation to cheat or disrupt the balance," he told supporters who massed again on Independence Square in Kiev on Wednesday.

Mr. Yanukovich, on leave from his job as prime minister, remains defiant and, he said, confident that he has the support of a majority of Ukrainian voters, despite the accusations of ballot stuffing, which he insists never took place in the regions that provided the bulk of his support.

It is a measure of how much the electoral dispute has upended politics here that Mr. Yanukovich, the man who served under Mr. Kuchma for two years and was chosen as his favored successor, now campaigns as an angry outsider.

On the campaign trail he has repeatedly criticized his erstwhile patron, as well as the wealthy oligarchs who remain intricately entwined in Ukraine's politics. Denied some of the government resources that aided his first two campaigns and deprived of the overwhelmingly fawning coverage he once received on national television networks loyal to Mr. Kuchma, Mr. Yanukovich has begun to sound as Mr. Yushchenko did in the first two rounds of voting.

Mr. Yushchenko, he said, was seizing power in an anti-constitutional putsch, aided by Mr. Kuchma and the United States. "It is power without limits, which does not recognize Ukrainian law, the Constitution, human rights," Mr. Yanukovich said. "It recognizes only force and money."

Regardless of the widespread violations the Supreme Court cited in ordering a new election, Mr. Yanukovich represents nearly half of Ukraine's voters, especially those in the predominantly Russian-speaking regions of the south and east.

Even his lowest poll numbers show him supported by more than 40 percent of voters, and the depth of anger among them will be a significant challenge for Mr. Yushchenko to overcome, should he win.

Mr. Yanukovich's rallies lack the size and fervor of Mr. Yushchenko's, but the atmosphere of anger and bitterness is palpable. In Poltava, a provincial capital east of Kiev, a couple of hundred people gathered in the cold on Wednesday evening outside a television studio where Mr. Yanukovich aired his grievances.

One after another his supporters climbed a small platform and angrily denounced the United States, NATO, religions other than Russian Orthodoxy and the specter of rising prices and foreign expropriation of Ukraine's farmlands. Most of all, they derided the "orange revolution" that overturned the election's results and set the stage for a new vote on Sunday.

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"Try not to use obscenities," the rally's moderator implored.

"Anyone has the right to express their opinion, but they had no right to block buildings," said Anna Solovyova, 18, a university student who joined the rally in support of Mr. Yanukovich in Poltava, referring to the mass protests that paralyzed Kiev after Nov. 21. She voted for Mr. Yanukovich in the first round of the election on Oct. 31 and in the November runoff and said she would vote for him again, because "he represents stability."

Another student, Oleksandr Kalinin, who drove to Poltava as part of Mr. Yanukovich's campaign, said "psychological pressure" from Mr. Yushchenko, Europe and the United States had soured many Ukrainians. The "orange revolution," he said, involved "too much emotion."

"Sometimes emotion flows to aggression," he said.

In Poltava and its surrounding region, a largely rural area famous for being the birthplace of Gogol and the site of Peter the Great's defeat of Sweden in 1709, 60 percent of voters supported Mr. Yushchenko in the runoff on Nov. 21. But 34 percent voted for Mr. Yanukovich, making it a battleground for the third round, in which both candidates are still scrambling for votes in what remains a competitive race.

The region's governor and the city's mayor are Yanukovich supporters, as is the general director of the official regional television station, Ltava, which devoted a full hour to a live interview with Mr. Yanukovich. Mykola I. Lyapanenko, the station director, expressed disgust at Mr. Yushchenko's campaign. "Actually it resembles 1937," he said. Stalin's purges were at their height that year.

Mr. Yanukovich's support among regional leaders - all of them appointed by Mr. Kuchma - remains a source of concern for Mr. Yushchenko's supporters. Those leaders still have sway over government resources, television channels and even state employees, who have reportedly faced pressure to vote for Mr. Yanukovich.

Anatoly T. Kukoba, deputy director of Mr. Yushchenko's campaign in Poltava, said the new election laws and a revision of local election commissions would minimize the possibility of fraud, which he said deprived Mr. Yushchenko of 10 to 12 percentage points in the last vote. He said he remained wary about the fairness of the next round.

"We only want an honest struggle," he said.

Mr. Yanukovich, in the interview, portrayed himself as the candidate who would unify, not divide the country, a picture that is somewhat at odds with the outpouring of public dissent over the Nov. 21 results, which showed Mr. Yanukovich winning by 870,000 votes.

He said he had repeatedly sought a compromise with Mr. Yushchenko to amend the changes curtailing absentee and home voting and to move up the effective date of constitutional changes, adopted by the Parliament on Dec. 8, to pass some powers of the new president to the prime minister. Under the agreement between Mr. Kuchma and Parliament, the changes are not to take effect before next September at the earliest.

"If before the election Yushchenko does not answer my questions, the prospect of the election's failure on Dec. 26, of the recognition of this election as illegitimate, or that the president will not be considered legitimate, is very high," Mr. Yanukovich said.

His position and statements by some of his supporters have kept tensions high. Already rumors have spread of plans for demonstrations and counterdemonstrations, of arms being distributed, of the possibility that the election could, even now, be somehow scuttled.

In Kiev, the tent city at the core of the mass protests still occupies the city's main street, Kreshchatik, though the number of protesters has dwindled significantly. Pavel Ananyev, a 19-year-old from Sumi who recently finished his army service, has been there since Nov. 21. He expressed hope that the crisis was nearing an end and that Mr. Yushchenko would become president, but added a word of caution.

"We will wait until the votes are counted," he said. "Probably we will have to celebrate New Year's here."

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Verkiezingen Oekraïne kennen rustig verloop

Uitgegeven: 26 december 2004 09:39
Laatst gewijzigd: 26 december 2004 15:24

KIEV - De laatste ronde van de presidentsverkiezingen in Oekraïne kenden zondag een rustig verloop. Stembureaus in het hele land gingen 's ochtends om acht uur op tijd open. Tot het middaguur waren er relatief weinig meldingen binnengekomen van onregelmatigheden, maakte de Centrale Verkiezingscommissie bekend.

De opkomst bij de stembusgang lag in de eerste uren iets lager dan bij de voorgaande rondes. Rond elf uur lokale tijd had gemiddeld bijna 18 procent van het electoraat zijn stem uitgebracht.


In de hoofdstad Kiev, waar oppositieleider Joesjtsjenko favoriet is, lag dat cijfer op 16,38 procent. In Simféropol op de Krim dat overwegend premier Janoekovitsj steunt, was dat 23 procent.

Hartaanval

Incidenten bij de 33.300 stemlokalen in het hele land zouden zich niet hebben voorgedaan. Twee verkiezingsfunctionarissen kwamen om. In Dnjepropetrovsk schoot een beschonken persoon een familielid dood die aan het hoofd van een stembureau stond. In de regio Lviv kreeg een waarnemer een hartaanval kort nadat de bureaus waren opengegaan. Geen van beide voorvallen had invloed op de stembusgang.

In totaal 300.000 Oekraïeners houden toezicht in stemlokalen vergezeld door 12.000 buitenlandse waarnemers. Aanhangers van Joesjtsjenko beschuldigden zondagochtend hun tegenstanders ervan te pogen de verkiezingen te beïnvloeden in een aantal stemlokalen in Kharkiv, Odessa, Zaporizhia en de regio Dnjepropetrovsk.

Ongeldig

De ruim 37 miljoen stemgerechtigden in Oekraïne mogen opnieuw naar de stembussen, omdat de uitslagen van de verkiezingen van 21 november ongeldig werden verklaard. Na massale volksdemonstraties georganiseerd door de oppositie tegen de uitslag stelde ook het hooggerechtshof vast dat er massaal fraude was gepleegd en dat de tweede ronde over moest.

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Presidential Vote Under Way In Ukraine

26 December 2004 -- Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych are facing off today in a repeat presidential election in Ukraine, triggered by a fraudulent runoff vote and large street protests.


Both candidates cast their ballots in the capital, Kyiv.

Yushchenko told reporters that "what we did during the last 30 days was a tribute to our ancestors."

Yanukovych said he had voted "for the future of the Ukrainian people."

Central Election Commission Chairman Yaroslav Davydovych said all polling stations had opened on schedule and that voting is proceeding normally.

Sandra Gayle, an election monitor from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also told reporters the balloting has so far been smooth.

Gayle: "It's going very well. We haven't found any violations. It's all going to plan. We're very happy with it. And everyone's very excited about the election."

Reporter: "Do you think it will be much better this time?"

Gayle: "I think so, yes."

Some 12,000 foreign observers are monitoring the voting.

Yanukovych officially beat Yushchenko in their first runoff on 21 November, but the Supreme Court later ruled the vote invalid.

First results are not expected until tomorrow.

(Reuters/AP)

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Joesjtsjenko verzekerd van overwinning

Uitgegeven: 27 december 2004 07:05

KIEV - Viktor Joesjtsjenko is verzekerd van zijn overwinning bij de Oekraïense presidentsverkiezingen, nu bijna alle uitslagen binnen zijn. Dit hebben functionarissen van de kiescommissie maandagochtend gezegd.

Na het tellen van meer dan 90 procent van de stemmen staat Joesjstjenko op 54 procent, terwijl Janoekovitsj blijft steken op 42 procent.

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Verkiezingen / 'Dit keer gaat het eerlijk in Oekraïne'
door Wendelmoet Boersema
2004-12-27 - geef uw reactie op dit artikel

Bij de vorige verkiezingsronde in Oekraïne werd veel gefraudeerd met het thuisstemmen. Dus wordt er nu nauwkeurig op toegezien dat iedereen zich aan de nieuwe regels houdt.


OLEKSANDRIJA - Even voorstellen: twee chloptsi, prima Oekraïense kerels. Sergej Sjin, een etnische Koreaan met Kazachstaanse wortels, en Vladimir Pisantsjin, etnisch Rus, geboren in Siberië. Vandaag zetten zij zich, alweer voor de derde keer, met hart en ziel in voor de eerlijke verkiezing van hun president. ,,Voor wie wij zijn? Wij zijn voor Oekraïne'', zeggen de beide agrarische ondernemers in koor.

Het is net licht geworden als de modderige witte Lada van Sergej koers zet richting de dorpjes in de omgeving van Oleksandrija. Deze stad ligt niet in Oost-, noch West-Oekraïne, maar in de centrale zuidelijke regio Kirovohrad. Bij de vorige ronde stemde hier de helft voor de oppositie-kandidaat Viktor Joesjtsjenko, en iets minder dan de helft voor zittend premier Viktor Janoekovitsj. ,,Maar die verhouding is aan het schuiven. De autoriteiten voelen dat de overwinning hen ontglipt en we zien veel bobo's in de stad ineens met oranje sjaaltje (Joesjtsjenko's verkiezingskleur, WB) lopen'', ratelt Vladimir er op los. In het Russisch, of eigenlijk in het soerzjik, Russisch doorspekt met Oekraïense woorden.

De belangrijkste opdracht van de mannen is dit keer: toezien dat op de kiesbureaus de procedures van het stemmen per absentie-biljet en het thuisstemmen nauwkeurig gevolgd worden. Vooral met deze procedures is in de vorige ronde massaal gefraudeerd. Bij het eerste kiesbureau in Prijoetovka, onder de rook van een enorme suikerfabriek, staat de eerste kiezer al in de startblokken. De drie grote doorzichtige stembussen glimmen, op de bodem ligt het startprotocol van de kiescommissie. De voorzitster vertelt hoe in de eerste ronde Janoekovitsj nipt won, in de tweede Joesjtsjenko en dat ze hoopt vanavond er eentje te nemen op de definitieve overwinning. Maar dat laatste is niet voor de krant, vanzelfsprekend, zegt ze met glimmende oogjes. Sergej en Vladimir constateren dat ze hier hun zaakjes op orde hebben.

Verder gaat de tocht, langs bochtige modderige weggetjes, langs zwarte akkers, langs meertjes waar vissers op het halfondergelopen ijs zitten te kleumen. Sergej geeft een ruk aan het stuur en redt een kakelende kalkoen van de kerstdis. Welkom in Janoekovitsj-dorp, grappen de mannen over Konstjantinivka, de volgende stop. Hier woont het meeste personeel van hun bedrijven. Boekhoudster Natalja Pogrebnjak is voor de zittende macht. ,,Joesjtsjenko is een mooi-prater, een gladde bankier'', zegt ze in het Oekraïens. ,,Ik ontsla je'', dreigt Vladimir, die voor Joesjtsjenko heeft gestemd. ,,We moeten toch met elkaar verder, en daar zullen deze verkiezingen weinig aan veranderen'', zegt Natalja.

Minder tevreden zijn de mannen in het volgende dorp. De kiescommissie van Protopopovka heeft niet helemaal begrepen dat voor stemmen aan huis een doktersverklaring nodig is. En dat de verklaring van de thuisstemmers handgeschreven moet zijn. En, o jee, de meeste oudjes en zieken zijn al bezocht en hun kiesbiljetten zitten in een verzegelde bus. ,,Opzij zetten en niet meer gebruiken. U moet dit melden aan het centrale comité en mag die stemmen waarschijnlijk niet meetellen'', deelt Vladimir de verbouwereerde voorzitster Jekaterina Malachatkova mee.

Hij legt uit dat deze zaken pas gisteren door het Constitutioneel Hof in een laatste wetswijziging zijn vastgesteld. Tijdens de tweede ronde op 21 november was Malachatkova het enige lid van de kiescommissie uit het Joesjtsjenko-kamp. ,,Bij het stemmen tellen gebeurde er iets raars'', vertelt ze achter haar tafel op fluistertoon. ,,Opeens zag ik een extra pakje kiesbiljetten, geteld en wel voor Janoekovitsj. Pas 's nachts realiseerde ik me dat het bedrog was, en dat onze oude voorzitster dat pakje er tussen moet hebben gelegd. Zij beweerde dat het gevallen was.''

Voor deze ronde zijn de kiescommissies overal in het land vervangen en evenwichtig samengesteld op politieke kleur. ,,Was het eerder gebeurd, dan hadden we geen derde ronde nodig gehad'', verzucht Malachatkova. ,,En dan was ik nog vriendinnen met de oud-voorzitster, mijn buurvrouw. Ze haat me nu omdat ik een proces heb aangespannen.''

Bij het andere kiesbureau in Protopopovka treffen we de bewuste buurvrouw, opnieuw als lid van de kiescommissie. Valentina Teretnetsjenko weet van de prins geen kwaad. ,,Geen klachten hier'', blijft ze herhalen. ,,Ook dit keer gaat het eerlijk.'' Ook dit keer? Ongewild verbetert ze: ,,Dit keer.''

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Yushchenko 'wins in Ukraine poll'

Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has won the re-run of Sunday's presidential election, election officials have said.
With 90% of the votes counted, he has an unassailable 12 point lead over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

But the official result may not be announced for days, with possible legal challenges from Mr Yanukovych.

The original vote, won by Mr Yanukovych last month, was annulled due to widespread fraud.

Sunday's re-run was monitored by 12,000 international observers.

Mr Yushchenko was quick to declare victory, speaking to reporters at about 0000 GMT, while the counting was still in its early stages.

"I want to say this is a victory of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation," he declared. "We were independent for 14 years, today we became free.

"Today, in Ukraine, a new political year has begun. This is the beginning of a new epoch, the beginning of a new great democracy."

Contested results?

Shortly afterwards he addressed tens of thousands of jubilant opposition supporters in Kiev's central Independence Square, thanking them for their support and urging them to remain in the square until he was officially declared as the winner.

Yushchenko supporters, in their distinctive orange colours, celebrated the anticipated victory with a concert and a fireworks display.

As polls closed, Mr Yanukovych - who has not conceded defeat - vowed to lead "a strong opposition" if he lost, saying it would be "senseless" to negotiate with his rival.

An aide, Nestor Shufrich, later told reporters it appeared likely the numbers would put Mr Yanukovych in second place.

But he added: "We don't admit defeat. If the results of the vote are contested in certain precincts, the outcome of the election could be different."

Election fatigue

The Ukrainian Committee of Voters, a voters' rights organisation, said in an initial statement it could see no grounds to talk about mass irregularities in Sunday's re-run.

Many Ukrainians, going back to the polls for the third time in less than two months, said they wanted to put an end to the country's bitter political crisis .

Public support for Mr Yanukovych - once seen as the favourite of the Ukrainian establishment and neighbouring Russia - has been strong in the industrialised east and the south of the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will accept, and work with, whoever wins.

Bitter campaign

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma suggested the loser should concede within two days.

"Dear God, let this be the final vote. I'm sure it will be," he said.

Mr Kuchma backed Mr Yanukovych in the earlier vote - but the prime minister had recently attacked the president, presenting himself as an anti-establishment candidate.

Allegations of vote-rigging in the original ballot were just part of a campaign characterised by alleged dirty tricks.

Doctors recently confirmed that Mr Yushchenko, who developed a disfiguring skin condition in September, had been poisoned with dioxin.

The opposition leader has suggested he was poisoned at a dinner with heads of the Ukrainian security service (SBU) - an allegation denied by the SBU.

quote:

Orange army starts to party
By Yaroslav Lukov
BBC News website, Kiev

The orange army was ecstatic watching the big TV screen set up on Kiev's main Independence Square when opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko finally appeared at his headquarters, well after midnight.

"It has happened! This is the victory of the Ukrainian people!" Mr Yushchenko said to loud cheers from reporters.

He later went on to the Independence Square - known here simply as Maidan - to thank his supporters personally.

But he urged Maidan's tent city to stay on to be ready to defend the victory.

The crowd had already been chanting "Yushchenko - President!" for some time, realising that the gap between their candidate and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych - although based on exit polls only - could hardly be breached.

In fact, the party started soon after the poll ended at 2000 (1800 GMT) with thousands of Mr Yushchenko's supporters pouring to the square in response to his earlier call.

People were singing and dancing as some of Ukraine's best-known musicians performed on stage in anticipation of Mr Yushchenko's victory.

And they exploded with loud cheers when the results of three exit polls were announced.

"We're winning, we're winning!" shouted a group of young girls standing next to me, flashing V-signs for victory.

"We can scent our victory in the air! Soon we'll be able to fully enjoy the taste of it!" said one of the musicians.

'No talks'

Other people were more cautious, predicting a delay in announcing of the official results because of possible legal wrangling.

"We'll stay on Maidan until Mr Yushchenko is sworn in as next president," said Taras, who has been living in the tent city for several weeks.

As polls closed, a grim-looking Mr Yanukovych gave a news conference at his Kiev headquarters.

"I'm waiting for my victory, but if I lose I am absolutely sure... that any negotiations [with Mr Yushchenko's camp] are senseless," he said.

The prime minister - who had earlier repeatedly urged his rival to make a deal - said he was ready to form an opposition and defend relentlessly his voters' rights.

quote:

Russians rush to re-think Ukraine
By Steven Eke
BBC Russia analyst


It appears that Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has won a decisive victory over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the re-run of the country's presidential election.

Nowhere has Ukraine's political crisis been followed more closely than in Russia.

It is widely accepted that the outcome of this election will help to shape the relationship between these two historically bonded nations, which continue to share economic, social and religious links.

It will also help to determine Russian foreign policy over the coming years, particularly during the remaining time President Vladimir Putin has in office.

Litmus test


When Mr Putin came to power in 2000, he promised to restore Russia's influence in what he termed "the zones of traditional influence" - or the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Ukraine has been a litmus test of Russia's capacity to influence events in the neighbouring countries.

And it appears that capacity is limited after the defeat of Mr Yanukovych, the candidate Moscow directly backed with money, moral support, advertising and TV airtime.

Already, Russian commentators have rushed to set out what they see as the consequences for Russia, and for Russo-Ukrainian relations.

Some are distancing themselves from the policy of backing Mr Yanukovych, and the public recognition of his 'victory' after a second round marred by allegations of widespread fraud.

The hard-line, nationalist MP Dmitry Rogozin has promised that the top Kremlin spin-doctors, who helped to shape the Yanukovych campaign, will "pay" for their failures.

Speaking live on Ukrainian television, Mr Rogozin said they were "guilty of creating the wrong image of Russia among Ukrainians". Their contribution consisted of portraying Mr Yushchenko as a Nazi, an anti-Semite, anti-Russian and pro-American.

Predictions

Ultimately, the Kremlin spin-doctors may have reinforced anti-Western stereotypes already widespread and deeply embedded in Russian society. This is clearly reflected in the doom-laden predictions of the Russian left.

One communist newspaper, Pravda, says the result means "the complete loss of our gas and oil export routes to the USA or the European Union". It also voices the fear that Mr Yushchenko's election means "Russia no longer exists as a world-class power". Pravda blames Washington for this.

Centrist commentators portray a very different situation.

A writer for business publication Kommersant claims the outcome of Ukraine's political crisis means "the Orange Revolution virus will now spread to Russia".

He writes: "It will not take long to dismantle the new Russian totalitarianism".

Media sources close to the Kremlin have stayed away from an assessment of Ukrainian exit polls. Instead, they have concentrated on the happy atmosphere in Kiev, and the apparent absence (so far) of reports of mass violations.

'Angry tones'

Mr Yushchenko has said that, in the event of his election, Russia would be the first foreign country he visited.

Ukraine's high level of dependence on Russia means u-turns in its policies towards its bigger, richer, northern neighbour are unlikely.

But there are likely to be long-term consequences in Russia.

Perhaps there will be a rejection of the policy of preserving influence at all costs, tied with a greater acceptance that the empire is no more.

It would seem more likely, given recent events, that an increasingly angry tone in public statements about the wider world may emerge, particularly regarding the US and Europe.