In an unlikely comeback, the opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich appeared on 8 February to have won a narrow victory in Ukraine’s presidential election, according to nearly complete results. Yanukovich, 59, led with 48.53% of the vote versus 45.88% for Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, after 98.09% of the ballots were counted, according to the Central Electoral Commission’s Web Site. Turnout was 69%, according to the Central Electoral Commission.
Yanukovich has claimed victory, though Tymoshenko has refused to concede defeat, according to media reports on 8 February.
To consolidate power, Yanukovich's Regions Party would try to muster a coalition in parliament to form a government. In the meantime, the government of Tymoshenko remains in place, and she may agree to stay on as premier if asked.
Alternatively, Yanukovich could call a snap parliamentary election, the third in five years, to seek an outright majority or bring in new forces as partners for the Regions Party.
Yanukovich’s Party of Regions lacks the majority control in the 450-seat Parliament needed to pass his policies, a senior diplomat told New Europe. “The situation is going to get absolutely ambiguous for Yanukovich unless he gets the majority in the parliament and for the time-being Timoshenko anyway stays as prime minister and in fact, according to his mandate, he has no right to intervene to the government’s job,” the diplomat said. “(Outgoing Ukrainian President Viktor) Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were very close at a certain stage and they understood each other – rivals at the later stage, but they understood each other very well. But with Yanukovich it is a totally different scenario. Plainly if you read mandate for the president he has no right whatsoever to intervene in the government job – only the constitutional positions,” the diplomat said.
A victory for Yanukovich would also be a triumph for Moscow in its struggle for influence with the West in the former Soviet Union while both Tymoshenko and Yanukovich are likely to improve ties with Russia. Yanukovich’s support comes from the Russian-speaking south and east, the industrial heart of Ukraine and home to its oligarchs.
Meanwhile, International monitors on 8 February hailed Ukraine's presidential run-off vote as an "impressive" display of democracy and urged the nation's political leaders to ensure a peaceful transition of power. "Yesterday's vote was an impressive display of democratic elections. For everyone in Ukraine, this election was a victory," the observers, headed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a statement. "It is now time for the country's political leaders to listen to the people's verdict and make sure that the transition of power is peaceful and constructive."