Ukraine candidates make final campaign push
A deeply divided Ukraine will cast ballots this weekend as the race between presidential candidates has seen increased hostile rhetoric since their last fraud-marred run-off, sparking fears violence could split the nation.
Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko – whose face still remains badly scarred from a dioxin poisoning this autumn that he blamed on the authorities - has emerged the front-runner.
He has built on the momentum of round-the-clock protests launched by his supporters after his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, was declared the winner of the November 21 run-off vote despite widespread allegations of fraud.
The Supreme Court later annulled the results and ordered a revote on December 26.
The Security Service yesterday denied any involvement in Yushchenko’s poisoning, saying in a statement posted on its website it “has no relation with the worsening” of Yushchenko’s health.
In an interview last week, Yushchenko said he was probably poisoned at a September 5 dinner with security service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk. Both denied any involvement.
Yushchenko, who recovered enough to return to the campaign trail and lead the mass protests dubbed the “orange revolution”, has likened them to the mass movements that swept aside the Berlin Wall and signalled the end of Communism in eastern Europe.
Yanukovych has warned that his opponent cannot win over Ukraine’s densely-populated, Russian-speaking east and said a Yushchenko victory would only be acknowledged by part of Ukraine.
But the giant street protests and the annulment of Yanukovych’s victory have weakened the prime minister and opinion polls show him likely to lose Sunday’s vote.
He has been abandoned by his principal backer, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, deserted by his top lieutenants and forced to reinvent himself as an opposition figure – in opposition to the government he runs.
The election will be monitored by at least 8,000 observers and will be conducted under recently changed electoral laws tailored to prevent fraud.
Ukraine’s eastern regions have threatened to seek greater autonomy if Yushchenko wins, and the media is awash with rumours that armed pro-Yanukovych bands are poised to flood into Kiev, which strongly supports Yushchenko, after the vote.
Yushchenko’s supporters see in the reform-minded, Western-leaning figure a chance to nudge Ukraine closer toward the European Union.
Yanukovych’s backers fear severing this nation’s historic, cultural and linguistic ties with neighbouring Russia, and discrimination by the Ukrainian-speaking, nationalistic west.
The Kremlin, which had backed Yanukovych, appears to have begun hedging its bets; this week, President Vladimir Putin said he could work with Yushchenko if he wins the presidency.
