Ukraine has elected it’s new predsident. Viktor Yanukovych, who can’t even spell his wife’s name in Ukranian, won with 49 percent of the votes, vs. 45.5 percent for his opponent, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko claims Yanukovych cheated, just like he did the last time, but even though some manipulation has been reported by observers monitoring the elections, it has not been to an extent that it has affected the results. The new, Russian-friendly president, who’s party is connected to United Russia, not surprisingly got most of his votes from the eastern districts of the country.
Yanukovich has said that he wants to put the discussion on NATO membership on hold, but still wants to continue to develope the ties to Europe and the EU aswell as keeping good relations with Russia. One of his great aims as president is to reduce poverty and lead Ukraine out of the financial crisis.
Personally I don’t know what to think of the new president of Ukraine. It’s apparent that the Ukrainian people has not fallen for the almost artificial nationalistic image of Yulia Tymoshenko (the braid, the lessons she’s taken to learn proper Ukranian) but have instead gone for the other, maybe stronger profile of Viktor Yanukovych. Maybe the thought of a president with good realtions with Russia is a safer choise in these times of economical hardships. (Allthough, Ukraine, as one of the poorest countries of Europe, allwasys seemes to be in economical hardship.)
Al Jazeera has a good, and short, article on Viktor Yanukovych here.
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Helena Kuhlefelt
Ove Eriksson