Posted on 12/26/2004 5:04:42 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory Monday in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election, telling thousands of supporters they had taken their country to a new political era.
"We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free," Yushchenko told the festive crowd in Kiev's central Independence Square, the center of weeks of protests after the fraudulent and now-annulled Nov. 21 ballot in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner.
"Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine."
Yushchenko spoke after three exit polls and partial results projected him winning easily in Sunday's Supreme Court-ordered rematch.
"Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you," he said.
Earlier, Yushchenko told journalists and others crammed into his campaign headquarters that Ukraine had opened a new era, which would include neither current President Leonid Kuchma nor Yanukovych, the prime minister and candidate hand-picked by Kuchma to be his successor.
With ballots from just over 50 percent of precincts counted, Yushchenko was leading by 56.34 percent to 39.85 percent, election officials said.
Earlier in the evening, a dejected-looking Yanukovych told reporters in Kiev "if there is a defeat, there will be a strong opposition." But he did not concede, saying "I am ready to lead the state," and hinted he would challenge the results in the courts.
"We will defend the rights of our voters by all legal means," he said, ruling out negotiations with Yushchenko were the opposition leader to win.
I hope if Yushenko is successful in joining the European Union he maintains his Pro USA position and joins NATO first.
Gee, where have we seen that before?
Looks like George Soros' guy (Yushchenko) has won. The Germans and French socialists are pleased too.
Won't happen. NATO is anachronism. The EU, by contrast, is like the borg and will not be stopped.
He's pro-USA?
We should know that...............
Well, more power to him. Now he'll have his chance to screw up, and let us hope that he won't screw up too badly and will even improve the lives of his people a bit. What more could be asked or expected?
"He's pro-USA?"
Well, it wasn't us who fed dioxin to him. He'll need friends and allies, I suppose, so why shouldn't he be pro-USA?
Because he's pro france!
Yushchenko is pro-EU and prmoised to withdraw troops from Iraq right away - the guy many here hate PM Yanukovych, authorized Uke troops to Iraq and promised to keep them there until after Iraq's elections. Ironic that, eh?
>>"We will defend the rights of our voters by all legal means," he said, ruling out negotiations with Yushchenko were the opposition leader to win.<<
Just look what the Soreloserman started...What a legacy.
but in the future...."No soup for you!!"
Hurrah! Hope he takes better precaution against assassination than the security force he had during the campaign.
He's labelled the "opposition party" yet the real "opposition" tried to poison him to maintain power.
Putin's anti-Zionist remark: innocent mistake or Freudian slip?
web.israelinsider.com ^ | December 25, 2004 | Jerusalem Post
Posted on 12/25/2004 9:22:16 AM PST by Lukasz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308349/posts
so it was Soros' guy vs Putin's guy? sheeesh, us regular folk cant catch a break can we?
To hear these guys spin it, Soros was helping George Bush...
http://www.vermontguardian.com/global/0904/Ukraine1224.shtml
We'll see whether this results in a pro-Western Ukraine, or something more like the start of a civil war.
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