(Art 3 ) OrAnGe ReVoLuTiOn!!!

Ukraine's Orange Revolution
Political Protest During Yanukovych, Yushchenko Election Campaigns
© Mark Resnicoff
Jul 10, 2007

Widespread electoral fraud in Ukraine's 2004 presidential election prompts a series of massive, peaceful protests and political events across the country.
Independent Ukraine's fourth presidential election since the disintegration of the Soviet Union was dominated by two main candidates, prime minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition candidate Victor Yuschenko, Yanukovych was supported by the existing government and the country's Russian-speaking, eastern, industrialized area. Yushchenko, on the other hand, was supported by the more nationalistic and agricultural western areas. The election was volatile, with Yanukovych's party intimidating Yushchenko and his supporters. Many people believe that Yanukovych or others in power were behind the dioxin poisioning of Yushchenko in September, 2004.

First Round Voting

The first-round vote was held on October 31, 2004, with Yushchenko tallying 39.87% of the vote to Yanukovych's 39.32%. The third and fourth leading candidates received a combined 10.8% of the vote. As a result, since no candidate garnered over 50% of the vote, Ukrainian law required a runoff election.
Questions regarding voting irregularities favoring Yanukovych arose immediately after the first-round vote, but were largely dismissed since neither candidate was close to a majority. These questions resurfaced during the second-round vote on November 21 when exit poll results gave Yushchenko an 11% lead, but preliminary results reported by the Central Election Commission revealed Yanukovych to be the winner by 3% of the vote. Allegations of fraud spread rapidly, including claims of voter intimidation, physical assaults, torching of ballot boxes, and multiple votings. Inexplicably, the list of the country's eligible voters increased by 5% on election day. This lead to massive protests around the county beginning November 22 in an attempt to have Yushchenko recognized as the rightful election winner.
Public Gatherings and Protests
The largest of these protests occurred in the country's capital, Kyiv, when an estimated 500,000 people descended upon Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti). On November 23, these protestors peacefully marched on the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) headquarters carrying orange flags or wearing orange clothing, orange being the chosen color of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party coalition. Yushchenko, appearing before this huge crowd, said, "We appeal to citizens of Ukraine to support the national resistance movement. We should not leave this square until we secure victory." The protestors obliged, and it is estimated that on some days up to one million people joined the gathering. After twelve days of demonstrations, Ukraine's Supreme Court declared the election results invalid and ordered a revote for December 26.

Second Vote

The re-vote was highly scrutinized by Ukrainian and local observers. Preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission showed Yushchenko with 52% of the vote and Yanukovych with just over 44%. Yanukovych challenged these results, but all his requests were denied. On January 10, 2005 the Election Commission formally declared Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the election. Yushchenko was sworn in to office as president on January 23, 2005 in the Verkhovna Rada building. Later that day, he appeared in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Independence Square, marking the end of the Orange Revolution