The results of the Ukrainian elections prove Ukrainians' disenchantment with the Orange Revolution, says Samy Amara Viktor Yanukovich and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are trying to woe Russia in the attempt to win the second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine. Yanukovich is the leader of the Party of the Regions with 35 per cent and Tymoshenko of the Fatherland Party came second with 26 per cent in a field of 18 candidates. President Viktor Yushchenko came a poor fifth with five per cent. This spells the end of the Orange Revolution of December 2004. The term "Orange Revolution" refers to the Western-sponsored demonstrations in 2004 which forced the winner, Yanukovich, to allow a second vote, which resulted in his defeat. He maintains to this day that he won the 2004 elections fairly, but wanted to avoid bloodshed and rioting. He disproved sceptics who assumed his political career was over by making a comeback in the parliamentary elections of 2006, and by his resounding success in the first round of this year's presidential elections. Ukraine has been sharply divided, with eastern Ukraine supporting Yanukovich and closer relations with Russia, and western Ukraine supporting the "princess" Yulia of the Orange Revolution and closer economic and military ties with the West. The battle now appears to be between two cities, where results will be watched eagerly. Donetsk is the bastion of the coal miners and Yanukovich's hometown where he was mayor and governor. Dniepropetrovsk is the hometown of Tymoshenko, also in eastern Ukraine. Will voters there reject their Orange princess? We can be sure the coal miners of Donetsk will support their Viktor. In any case, what has happened in the past five years is a blurring of the east-west divide. Sergei Tigipko, who came third in the first round this time, is refusing to recommend to his supports who they should vote for in the runoff, despite the pleading of Tymoshenko. She even offered him the prime minister position, though many observers argue that the president cannot dictate who will be prime minister. This is the role of the parliament. In contrast Yanukovich has not made any backroom deals and he argues that it would put the other contenders in a humiliating position before their supporters. Both contenders have been trading insults. Tymoshenko accused Yanukovich of being linked to the criminal underworld. Yanukovich admits he was imprisoned as a teenager for theft in 1967 and again in 1970 for hooliganism. If he wanted to play dirty, Yanukovich could accuse Tymoshenko of similar charges as she was imprisoned on bribery charges in the 1990s. The Russian Defence Ministry wanted her handed over to Interpol. There are even rumours that she used feminine wiles on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to curry favour with the Russians and that as a result Putin is officially on record that he has no problem at all working with her. From this we can deduce that the Kremlin is the "absent present" or king-maker in Ukraine. Moscow has red lines in its relationship with Ukraine, the most important being its objection to Ukrainian membership in NATO, the need for Russian as a second official language and the necessity of maintaining the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. These are Russia's bottom lines. They were brought up openly by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in talks with his Ukrainian counterpart last year and led to angry exchanges. Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov is not popular in Kiev and has contributed to the standoff between the two countries. He came back to Kiev this week with new responsibilities -- the personal representative of the Russian president on economic and trade relations with Ukraine in addition to his diplomatic duties as ambassador. Yushchenko refused to accept Zurabov's new credentials on the pretext that this must await the inauguration of the new president, but commentators see it as an excuse to add fuel to the fiery relations smoldering at present between the two countries. Certain circles in the ruling oligarchy have close ties with business and organised crime and have vested interests in undermining Ukraine's growing ties with the European Union. Yanukovich is accused of representing criminal elements in the ruling elite by Tymoshenko, who tries to pretend she is lily white in this regard, but the French Expres refers to the entire Ukrainian political establishment as being "utterly corrupt", which most certainly includes the Orange princess. Even if Yanukovich wins, the current Western orientation, carefully cultivated under Yushchenko, will not change much. Still, there is no doubt that Western powers and Russia are closely watching the results of the elections. It is most unfortunate that those who sought change chose the colour orange as the symbol in a country where oranges are not grown. Indeed food for thought.
