The legacy of the Orange Revolution by Zuzana Zelenakova

Current President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko received 5.5 percent of votes during the 2010 presidential elections and thus dropped from the race after the first round. The two strongest ones left were Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych with strong inclination towards Russia. So far, everything indicates the next president will be Yanukovych, however, his opponent is most unwilling to give up raising accusations of widespread election fraud. She is ready to put the matter to the court. However, The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed the results rejecting any indications of serious fraud. Their sta! nce is quite the opposite to the one back in 2004, when Viktor Yanukovych tried to manipulate the votes and his attempts subsequently lead to the Orange Revolution. The Revolution brought major constitutional changes, shift of power from the presidency to the parliament. "Some say the Orange revolution has failed. I say no. Thanks to the Orange revolution democratic elections in Ukraine are now a reality," said Matyas Eörsi, head of the delegation of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly. Despite Tymoshenko´s efforts in the eyes of the country´s officials Yanukovych is the winner. And as soon as he is inaugurated he will be busy enough with securing parliamentary majority and restoring the economyAnd when it comes to people, they do not seem to possess that vigor and passion they showed back in 2004. Maybe they are disillusioned and maybe they feel the country´s democracy has truly strengthened during Yushchenko´s reign. He was determined n! ot to continue in a manner of the preceding president Leonid K! uchma wh ose presidency was surrounded by numerous corruption scandals and restrictions of media freedom. During Yushchenko´s watch Ukraine got several steps closer to becoming a member state of the European Union.

related story (sgx16426): http://www.france24.com/en/20100129-reporters-ukraine-presid...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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