West-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko took a landslide victory on Monday in Ukraine´s presidential re-election.  The leading Eastern town of Donetsk remained quiet so far reports the HRH project coordinator Vugar Gojayev from Donetsk.  (27-DEC-2004)

With about 97 percent of Sunday´s ballot counted, election officials said Yushchenko led statistically, with almost 53 percent of the votes. The Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich got under 44 percent. The campaign manager said there had been three million illicit votes and did not rule out legal challenges that could delay a final official result for days, reports HRH project coordinator Vugar Gojayev from Donetsk.  (27-DEC-2004)

So far, the official results have not declared yet, but will be announced next week, with possible legal challenges from Mr Yanukovych, who has closer ties with the Russian Federation and has strong support in Ukraine´s Russian -speaking industrial east. Yanukovych had not yet conceded defeat.        
 
Appeal                                                                                                        
“Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you,” Yushchenko told a jubilant crowd in Kiev´ s Independence Square, the centre of massive protests following the Nov. 21 presidential run off that was annulled after fraud allegations. – -We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free. Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine.”

Pride                                                                                                                                                     “I am convinced that it is fashionable to be a citizen of Ukraine. It is stylish. It is beautiful. Three or four months ago, few people knew where Ukraine was; today, almost the whole world starts its day thinking on what is happening in Ukraine. Thousands of people that were and are at the square were not only waiting for this victory but they were creating it. In some time, in a few years, they will be able to utter these historic words: Yes, this is my Ukraine and I am proud that I am from this country.” Yushchenko said.

Observation                                                                                                                        Some 12,000 foreign observers had watched Sunday’s unprecedented third round to prevent a repeat of the apparent widespread fraud in November that sparked massive protests after Kremlin favourite Yanukovych was declared to be the winner. The group of Azerbaijani NGO’s monitored the elections in Ukraine as international observers in the framework of ENEMO Mission, which is a group of civic organizations from 16 countries of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Azerbaijan observers have revealed fraud in several polling stations in Donetsk and Mariopol cities in Eastern Ukraine.

Fearing for loosing their jobs
The main concerns were massive ballot staffing and repeated voting in favour of Yanukovich.Donetsk, which is on the Russian speaking eastern side of Ukraine, is the hometown of the pro-Russian president candidate V. Yanukovich. According to international observers in Ukraine, almost great majority of the people living in Donetsk oblast feared to lose their jobs if Yushchenko win, since he favoured a Western economical policy, which will decrease state subsidies and result in a closure of the coal mines. Those people do not welcome Yushchenko and said they would protest against his victory. But the leading Eastern town of Donetsk remained quiet so far and no congregation of people has been noticed. It seems, Yushchenko´s relation with Eastern Ukraine will face problems in the early stages of his presidency.

Pledges                                                                                      
The west-leaning Mr Yushchenko, an economist and banker by training and prime minister between 1999 and 2001, is regarded as a pro-Western liberal reformer. Yushchenko wants to align Ukraine, its economic potential squandered by years of mismanagement, with central and western Europe, fanning concerns in neighbouring the Russian Federation that it will lose influence over a region where it held sway for 300 years. He has mainly promised to end corruption and reform and modernize the ex-Soviet state´s damaged economy and improve ties with the European Union, which Ukraine adheres to join. On the other hand, during the pre-election period the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych pledged tightening the Slavic country´s ties with the Russian Federation as a means of maintaining stability.

Attitudes                                                                                                                                          The Georgian President, who came to power as a result of the famous rose revolution in Georgia, has officially congratulated Yushchenko and expressed his confidence for close cooperation between Georgia and Ukraine. the Russian Federation, who was very supportive to Yanukovich, is now distancing itself from the policy of backing Mr Yanukovych. Already, Russian commentators have rushed to set out what they see as the consequences for the Russian Federation, and for Russo-Ukrainian relations. Some and the public recognition of his ´victory´ after a second round marred by allegations of widespread fraud. The Russia´s hard-line, nationalist MP Dmitry Rogozin has promised that the top Kremlin spin-doctors, who helped to shape the Yanukovych campaign, will “pay” for their failures. It is clear now that the Russia´s capacity is limited after the defeat of Mr Yanukovych, the candidate Moscow directly backed with money, moral support and TV advertising.