Yanukovych Win Looks Sealed in Ukraine
Wall Street Journal / JAMES MARSON And RICHARD BOUDREAUX
08-Feb-2010 (7 comments)

KIEV, Ukraine—Viktor Yanukovych won Ukraine's presidential election, near-complete returns showed Monday, a surprise sequel to the 2004 Orange Revolution that had cast him aside as an autocratic machine-politician and tool of Russian imperial designs.

The opposition leader received 48.79% of the ballots cast Sunday, compared with 45.63% for his Orange rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, election officials reported in a count based on 99.38% of votes.

Mr. Yanukovych proclaimed victory. But Ms. Tymoshenko postponed a news conference and didn't comment Monday. A team of observers led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe endorsed the vote as an "impressive display" of democracy and called on Ukraine's leaders to "listen to the people's verdict."

Opposition leader Yanukovich appeared to win Sunday's election for president but challenges are expected from Yulia Tymoshenko. Video courtesy of Reuters.

Mr. Yanukovych's unlikely comeback is a story of reinvention. Bowed by the massive street protests that overturned his tainted election in the 2004 presidential race, he adopted the rules and rhetoric of democracy—and advice from an American political consultant—to maneuver his way back to power.

By running in a series of fair elections made possible by those protests, and prevailing Sunday, the villain of the Orange Revolution has became its unintended beneficiary. Now the question is how he will govern.

Mr. ... >>>

Jaleho

Final nail in the coffin of Color Revolutions!

by Jaleho on Mon Feb 08, 2010 06:17 PM PST

Those pesky "numbers" again :-)


Balatarin
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vildemose

onlyIran: Jaleho is not a

by vildemose on Tue Feb 09, 2010 09:07 AM PST

onlyIran: Jaleho is not a leftist in my opinion. She is an Islamist fundamentalist of Lebanese Hizballah stripe.

She is somehow connected to Marzieh Dabbagh.


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Onlyiran

VPK

by Onlyiran on Tue Feb 09, 2010 09:04 AM PST

that's too bad.  I was hoping for her to say that she will go back home to South Lebanon, continue the struggle and even become a "martyr" there, but no such luck for us, I guess.   


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Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

Only Iran

by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Feb 09, 2010 08:54 AM PST

 

You and your leaders are nothing but relics of a brutal dictatorship that will soon crumble. I wonder what you and the likes of you will do when that happens.

They will stay in the US and join the "peace movement". They will whine and complain about the "evil imperialists" while sipping cappuccino at Star Bucks. Whine more about how their revolution got stolen by Zionist agents. Then go to an anti-Israel demonstration and shed crocodile tears for Palestinians.


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Onlyiran

Jaleho- Enjoy your fantasies

by Onlyiran on Tue Feb 09, 2010 07:59 AM PST

thinking that your Islamic Republic will last until "enghelab-e-mehdi".  Keep on drinking your cappuccino wherever you are in the United States of America and fantasize about the utopia that you think your child murdering Islamic Republic has created.  Enjoy your delusions, but know this: you have been left behind by the progressive new Iran.  You and your leaders are nothing but relics of a brutal dictatorship that will soon crumble.  I wonder what you and the likes of you will do when that happens.


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Veiled Prophet of Khorasan

Hey this yankovic dude doesn't sound so bad

by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Feb 09, 2010 05:01 AM PST


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AMIR1973

The IRI has killed at least 20,000 since '79, Ukraine hasn't

by AMIR1973 on Tue Feb 09, 2010 04:33 AM PST

This murdering, raping regime has executed more Iranians than any other in Iran's modern history. How's that for a number?

Ukraine isn't ruled by a priest. Ukraine doesn't stone people to death, hang them from cranes, assassinate them, and flog them. Ukraine's leader has to stand for elections that the people can participate in. The Supreme Leader has been in power for 20 years, and he was never elected by a popular vote; rather, he was chosen by a bunch of other akhoonds. I know the official line vomited up endlessly by IRI groupies and their Fellow Travelers is that Iran is "another color revolution", but other than IRI parasites and thugs, no Iranian is buying the Supreme Leader's propaganda.


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