MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- With almost all the votes counted, Prime Minster Viktor Yanukovych appears to have "won" Ukraine's runoff presidential election held on Sunday.
Given he is the establishment's candidate, his final victory is all but ensured. For the most part this election is over. However, in a different sense, Ukraine's presidential campaign may be far from concluded. Who will rule Ukraine could still be determined in the streets.
With one policeman reported killed, thousands of election violations claimed, journalists kidnapped, and busloads of "professional voters" being transported by buses from one polling to another, Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC) has counted more than 90 percent of ballots cast in yesterday's runoff presidential. Viktor Yanukovych has claimed victory with 49.3 percent of the votes to opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko's 46.9 percent. Yushchenko and his supporters claim the election has been stolen and are taking to the streets of Kyiv to protest the CEC's official results.
Yanukovych, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's handpicked successor, and Yushchenko, a former central bank head and former prime minister, could not be more different. The former represents powerful business clans in the country's east as well as closer economic integration with Russia. A shameless populist with a criminal record, Yanukovych pitched for support from Ukraine's very large Russian minority by running on a platform to elevate Russian as the country second official language and a call for dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship. In a campaign with no shortage of outside influence and money, Yanukovych also counts among his close political friends Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Yushchenko, claiming to have been poisoned before the first round of the presidential election last month, is portrayed as a "Western alternative." He supports closer economic cooperation with the European Union and is open to discussion concerning Ukraine's possible NATO membership. Yushchenko is also the anti-corruption candidate with a will to take on Ukraine's largely oligarch-controlled economy.
However, as most media have implied during this campaign, Yushchenko is not the "anti-Russia" candidate. During his premiership, Ukraine-Russia economic relations flourished. He has a record of constructive engagement with all Ukraine's neighbors. More than anything else, Yushchenko's campaign has been about putting an end to a decade of state-inspired corruption. This desire for change is what ensures the campaign is far from over.
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