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| Europe |
| Exit Polls Give Yushchenko the Presidency |
| 2004-12-26 |
| Three exit polls projected Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko the winner by a commanding margin over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in Sunday's fiercely fought presidential rematch. A glum-looking Yanukovych told reporters "if we fail, we will form a strong opposition." He did not concede defeat, saying "I am ready to lead the state" and hinted that he would challenge the results in court. The first official results are not expected until Monday morning. The exit polls tracked an unprecedented third-round presidential election, which was watched by an army of foreign observers stationed at polls to prevent the kind of fraud that sparked weeks of protests in the streets of Kiev, the capital, and sent a flurry of recriminations flying between Russia and the West after last month's court-annulled run-off. The state-funded Ukrainian Institute of Social Research and Social Monitoring Center showed Yushchenko winning with 58.1 percent of the vote and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych garnering 38.4 percent. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. The Western-funded Razumkov Center of Political Studies and Kiev International Institute of Sociology showed Yushchenko winning with 56.5 percent and Yanukovych collecting 41.3 percent of the vote, with no margin of error given. A third exit poll, by Frank Luntz, a pollster for the U.S. Republican Party, and Douglas Schoen, of the Washington-based market research company Penn, Schoen & Berland, showed Yushchenko winning with 56 to Yanukovych's 41 percent, Schoen said. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. The contest was a momentous political event for Ukraine, a nation of 48 million people torn between an eastward-expanding European Union (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites), and an increasingly assertive Russia, its former imperial and Soviet-era master. Yushchenko, a former Central Bank chief and prime minister, hopes to take Ukraine closer to the West and to push through economic and political reforms. The Kremlin-backed Yanukovych, the current prime minister, emphasized tightening the Slavic country's ties with Russia as a means of maintaining stability. Yushchenko has promised to uproot the corruption which saw the former Soviet republic's wealth concentrated in the hands of about a dozen businessmen. Yanukovych has promised to continue work to boost Ukraine's economy — which enjoys the fastest growth rate in Europe — and pledged an increase in wages and pensions. Serhiy Shetchkov, 53, a Kiev voter, said he had cast his ballot for Yushchenko — "of course." "He is an economist and that's what the country needs right now," he said after slipping his ballot into a transparent box at Kiev's Music Conservatory. "I'm not as interested in all this talk about the European Union versus Russia. I'm interested in someone who can raise the standard of living, raise pensions, create more jobs." The political crisis has highlighted the rift between Ukraine's Russian-speaking, heavily industrial east and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west, where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep. Yanukovych backers fear discrimination from the Ukrainian-speaking west, and some eastern regions briefly threatened to seek autonomy if Yushchenko were to win the presidency. "I am voting for independence (of eastern Ukraine), an end to feeding those lazy westerners! My vote goes to Yanukovych," said Hrihoriy Reshetnyak, a 44-year-old miner who cast his ballot in the prime minister's eastern stronghold, Donetsk. Yushchenko, whose face remains badly scarred from dioxin poisoning he blamed on Ukrainian authorities, built momentum for the Supreme Court-ordered third vote with round-the-clock protest by supporters, echoing the spirit of the anti-communist revolutions that swept other East European countries in 1989-90. "What we did during the last 30 days was a tribute to our ancestors," Yushchenko told reporters after voting in Kiev's trade union building. "I know they are looking at us from heaven and they are applauding." His backers launched the demonstrations after Yanukovych was named the winner of the fraud-marred Nov. 21 presidential runoff. The Supreme Court later annulled the results and ordered Sunday's repeat vote, which is being monitored by more than 12,000 international observers. The political crisis sparked arguments between Russia, which had backed Yanukovych and insisted that the vote had been free and fair, and the West, which stubbornly held out for a new contest. Each side accused the other of undue interference in Ukraine's affairs. "We hope for a free, fair vote that meets international standards and results in an outcome truly reflecting the will of Ukraine's people," said U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma said he hoped the results will stick this. "In my opinion, the one who loses should call and congratulate the winner ... and put an end to this prolonged election campaign." Pollsters said they heard the same sentiment of fatigue from voters. "I think the public is looking for this to be over," said Douglas Schoen, a pollster for the U.S. Democratic Party who teamed up with Frank Luntz of the country's rival Republican Party to conduct an exit poll of 10,000 voters. "The public is looking to move ahead," he said, adding that Ukrainians "are more excited about what the future might bring them." By 3 p.m., the Central Election Commission had reported 55.2 percent turnout with 90 percent of Ukraine's precincts reporting. Despite the huge presence of foreign observers, both campaigns complained of some violations. Yanukovych's campaign alleged that Yushchenko campaign material was found near some voting booths. Yushchenko's headquarters, meanwhile, complained that the names of the dead were included on a voter list in Donetsk. In spite of fears of violence, no major incidents were reported by Sunday evening. As the voting wound down, about a dozen pro-Yushchenko protesters sat around campfire in the opposition tent camp, drinking hot tea, while nearby someone played the guitar. Three men wearing Yanukovych's white-and-blue scarves stood outside the camp's makeshift barriers, watching. The two groups didn't talk to each other. On Saturday, the Constitutional Court ruled against some amendments passed earlier this month that would have allowed only people with certain disabilities to vote at home. The court said all those unable to reach polling stations because of a disability or ill health must be allowed to vote at home. But it was unclear if the ruling would help or hurt Yanukovych, who enjoys strong backing from the elderly and disabled. His campaign workers had planned to ferry many homebound elderly to the polls, and logistics may have prevented more from taking advantage of the last-minute ruling. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #1 Didn't that happen the last time, too? I'll wait for the final results, thankyouverymuch. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-12-26 5:24:59 PM |