KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s defeated presidential candidate, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is holding tough, not willing to concede the election to her arch-rival and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.
According to the Central Electoral Commission, Yanukovych won the Feb. 7 election with nearly 49 percent of the vote, 3 percent ahead of Tymoshenko in a bitterly fought battle for the country’s top job. Results from two regions, Lugansk and Crimea, where Yanukovych enjoys big support, have yet to be finalized.
The online edition of the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda quoted a Tymoshenko party insider on Monday saying that “she would never recognize the legitimacy of Yanukovych’s victory in the election.”
The delay of her official post-election press conference also indicates her plan to contest the results of the second round of elections that was fought between just two candidates.
Tymoshenko has reportedly ordered her lawyers to dispute in the court results in several regions, according to Ukrainska Pravda. However, the paper says that half of her team members do not agree and want to accept the knockout and assume their role as the opposition.
In the 2004 election, Yanukovych initially seem to have won, but due to evidence of mass voter fraud, and huge public protests, the Supreme Court ordered a re-vote. Yanukovych ultimately lost the runoff to Viktor Yushchenko in what became known as the Orange Revolution.
While international observers registered some voting violations, they deemed the vote overall to be “fair and transparent.”
Among the irregularities were bomb-scares in some polling stations delaying voting, voter-list irregularities, and attempts to block journalists and watchers from observing the voting process.
The European Union has also recognized the results.
“I should in particular like to congratulate the people of Ukraine for the high turnout in both rounds of the elections and the strong commitment demonstrated to the democratic process,” Catherine Ashton, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement on Feb 9.
The E.U. says it looks forward to working with the new president in implementing its reform agenda.
The mood in the general public, for large part, is ambivalence. People say they are tired of seeing round after round of their leaders cursing each other, rather than getting on with the job of running the nation.
According to the Central Electoral Commission, Yanukovych won the Feb. 7 election with nearly 49 percent of the vote, 3 percent ahead of Tymoshenko in a bitterly fought battle for the country’s top job. Results from two regions, Lugansk and Crimea, where Yanukovych enjoys big support, have yet to be finalized.
The online edition of the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda quoted a Tymoshenko party insider on Monday saying that “she would never recognize the legitimacy of Yanukovych’s victory in the election.”
The delay of her official post-election press conference also indicates her plan to contest the results of the second round of elections that was fought between just two candidates.
Tymoshenko has reportedly ordered her lawyers to dispute in the court results in several regions, according to Ukrainska Pravda. However, the paper says that half of her team members do not agree and want to accept the knockout and assume their role as the opposition.
In the 2004 election, Yanukovych initially seem to have won, but due to evidence of mass voter fraud, and huge public protests, the Supreme Court ordered a re-vote. Yanukovych ultimately lost the runoff to Viktor Yushchenko in what became known as the Orange Revolution.
While international observers registered some voting violations, they deemed the vote overall to be “fair and transparent.”
Among the irregularities were bomb-scares in some polling stations delaying voting, voter-list irregularities, and attempts to block journalists and watchers from observing the voting process.
The European Union has also recognized the results.
“I should in particular like to congratulate the people of Ukraine for the high turnout in both rounds of the elections and the strong commitment demonstrated to the democratic process,” Catherine Ashton, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement on Feb 9.
The E.U. says it looks forward to working with the new president in implementing its reform agenda.
The mood in the general public, for large part, is ambivalence. People say they are tired of seeing round after round of their leaders cursing each other, rather than getting on with the job of running the nation.
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