Ukraine January-February 2010 Presidential Election
Ukraine's constitutional court postponed the date of presidential elections from October 2009 until January 2010 - a move that bought more time for President Viktor Yuschenko, who faced a tough re-election challenge. The ruling followed an overwhelming vote in parliament to hold the election on October 25 - two months before Yushchenko's term expires. With his popularity plummeting, political infighting between the president, prime minister and parliament took its toll on the economy undergoing a severe slowdown.
By December 2009 the Front of Change head Arseniy Yatsenyuk [and former Parliament (Rada) Speaker] campaign was falling apart after its impressive late spring/early summer launch. Disappointment and disillusion had overtaken the majority of his local campaign team. Shcherba told us that Yatsenyuk's announcement at Front of Change's 28 November 2009 party congress that he would not seek the Prime Ministership dashed hopes staffers had of finding jobs in the next government. Yatsenyuk the candidate was stubborn and difficult to advise. He believed he already knew everything and did not listen.
One group he did listen to, however, was his Russian campaign consultants. This team came onto the scene and quickly alienated the campaign's base of grassroots volunteers. Many blamed the Russians for the campaign's failure, as they mistakenly believed that the unorthodox style, colors and messages of the campaign would appeal to Ukrainians. The Russians convinced Yatsenuk, previously known as a pro-Western liberal and Yushchenko protege, to advocate an amorphous "Greater Europe" concept, with Ukraine at its core, rejecting NATO and the EU as unachievable for Ukraine.
Ukrainians voted on 17 January 2010 in the first presidential elections since the 2004 Orange Revolution, in a ballot set to determine the ex-Soviet republic's relations with Russia and Europe. Election campaigning for 18 candidates in Ukraine's presidential race came to an end on Saturday. Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the opposition Party of Regions, and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were seen as the main contenders for the president's post. Tymoshenko was a leader of the "orange revolution" protests that overturned Yanukovych's tainted victory in 2004. Both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko pledged to improve ties with Russia, soured over Kiev's NATO bid, gas disputes and the former Soviet republic's support for Georgia in the August 2008 war over South Ossetia.
The Central Election Commission authorized about 3,000 international observers from North America, Europe and former Soviet republics. Early reports did not indicate systemic vote fraud. There were however, numerous accounts of minor infractions in some polling stations - food handed out as bribes, campaign material displayed after the deadline to remove it, ballot shortages, electric blackouts, cell phone pictures taken of ballots or residents of an entire building being left off of a voter list.
Exit polls announced within minutes after elections ended 17 January 2010 indicated the country's current and former prime ministers would emerge from a field of 18 candidates to face one another in a run-off in three weeks. Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko appeared out of the running with a reported fifth-place finish. An exit poll conducted by Kyiv's Razumkov Center shows Viktor Yanukovych, who was accused of rigging the 2004 election, garnered more than 31 percent of the vote. Yulia Tymoshenko, the current head of government, had more than 27 percent, a bit higher than expected. Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko lagged behind businessman Serhiy Tihipko and newcomer Arseniy Yatseniuk with six percent. the resounding defeat of President Viktor Yushchenko underscored voter desire for better economic policies represented by the third- and fourth-place showings of Serhiy Tihipko and Arseniy Yatseniuk, who finished ahead of the incumbent.
In recent years Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had openly squabbled with her former "Orange Revolution" ally, President Viktor Yushchenko, in a feud that badly damaged Ukraine's economy as it struggled with the global crisis, effectively forcing potential foreign creditors to hold back rescue packages. Yanukovych made clear that he will not retain Tymoshenko as prime minister and promised to name his candidate as soon as election smoke cleared. Tymoshenko was poised to fight to the end for her current job. She and Yanukovych have the two biggest factions in parliament, but neither had enough votes to control key nominations and both had to rely heavily on allies from smaller parties.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich faced current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a presidential runoff 07 February 2010. Yanukovich, who lost the last presidential elections in 2004, was seen as the front-runner. The finalists seemed to have disenchanted more people than they inspired. During the campaign, candidates Tymoshenko and Yanukovych portrayed themselves as honest and the other as a corrupt incompetent prepared to cheat to win the election. But it is not at all difficult to find Ukrainians who expressed complete disgust not only with their presidential candidates, but with the country's entire political establishment. Voters say most politicians, judges, and public servants are corrupt and a new president is not likely to change the situation.
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych won Ukraine's presidential election, the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) officially declared 14 February 2010. In line with the official results, the election's second round on February 7 gave Yanukovych 48.95%, or 12,481,266 votes, while Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko garnered 45.47%, or 11,593,357 votes. A total of 4.36% voted against all.
Five years after the Orange Revolution ousted him from power, on 25 February 2010 Ukraine's pro-Moscow opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has been sworn in as president. The inauguration ended a disputed vote, but not a longstanding political crisis. Yanukovych's opponent in a runoff vote, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said he stole his victory through fraud, and refused to recognize the result. But international monitors gave the election a clean bill of health. International monitors have praised the Ukrainian election, which the United States called a step forward in the former Soviet state's democratic development.
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