Ukraine claims post-election ‘victory for mature nation’

By Wieslaw Horabik

Date: 04/11/04

AT THE end of a brutal campaign, the result of the Ukrainian presidential elections turned out to be a draw, though probably a moral victory for Viktor Yushchenko, the challenger.

The decisive round will be on 21 November.

The campaigning was full of controversy, including allegations that Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer, was being poisoned as well as a visit to Kiev from the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, three days before the election, to support Viktor Yanukovich, acting prime minister.

Reporters from the only independent broadcaster, Canal 5, went on hunger strike when the authorities threatened to take their programme off the air.

"This campaign was dynamic and sharp," says Oleksij Plotnikov, from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Kiev. "It mobilized people to go to the polls. Both leading candidates possess very strong personalities."

An unprecedented number of foreign observers and journalists monitored voting all over the country, reporting minor and major infringements of the election code. The ballot boxes were made from a transparent plastic.

The combined commission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Parliament and NATO issued a statement in which it announced that the elections were not altogether compatible with the standards of mature democracies.

But other commentators see the birth of a new civil society.

"The Ukrainians got the feeling that they could participate in the election war and have an influence on its outcome," says Aleksandr Drogomirov, a political scientist.

"For the first time in the history of the independent Ukraine, the competition between the presidential contenders engaged not only experts on political engineering but also the ordinary people."

The turnout was huge. Ukraine is politically polarized, split almost in half. A new president, no matter who, will have to live with the other half of the society, which will initially be distrustful and suspicious of him.

It will be up to the new leader to reach some kind of a passable consensus and it is unlikely that Ukraine will suddenly take any unpredictable turns. In fact, the current situation virtually guarantees maintaining the status quo.

A victory for Janukovich would not mean imminent unification with Russia, and Yushchenko's presidency would not signify Ukraine's immediate presence in EU structures. But Ukraine is no longer searching for its identity.

"I proclaim the victory of our nation," says Aleksandr Litvinenko from the Centre for Political Studies. "It [Ukraine] came to the conclusion that it pays to participate in democracy. The Ukrainians are at last becoming socially and politically mature."

• Wieslaw Horabik is a freelance journalist based in Poland.

The first round of the Presidential election in Ukraine on 31 October 2004 ended with a draw between acting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and his challenger Viktor Yushchenko. The turnout was believed to be very high.