# Ukrainian elections
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 24, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553 "2004-11-24T23:20:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553/1 "2004-11-24T23:20:55Z")
Unlike the US elections, I haven’t noticed any threads discussing the election in Ukraine. But things are looking pretty serious over there:
[Ukraine on brink of ‘civil war’](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4040041.stm)
Yikes!
From what I understand, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has been declared winner of the presidential election, but the opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, is disputing the result and insists it was rigged. Many signs of possible vote fraud have been cited by Western election observers:[ul]
[li]Abuse of state resources and “overt media bias” in favour of Mr Yanukovych [/li][li]State workers pressured to give absentee voting certificate to their superiors [/li][li]Intimidation reported at some polling stations [/li][li]Suspiciously high turnout in two pro-government regions [/li][/ul]
Yushchenko has now called for a general strike. Hundreds of thousands of his supporters have massed in Kiev (see [this photo](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041124/ids_photos_wl/r2457997010.jpg)), and are showing no signs of leaving voluntarily.
Doesn’t seem like we’ll be hearing a gracious concession speech from either candidate anytime soon.
---
### Author:  [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553/2 "2004-11-24T23:27:28Z")
In fact, Yushchenko went so far as to actually have himself sworn in as president! It almost reminds me of the Great Schism. IIRC, Ukraine has nukes. Everybody duck and cover! :eek:
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553/3 "2004-11-24T23:35:01Z")
Nasty, nasty, dirty business. [Yuschenko](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4035789.stm) was horribly disfigured (check out the before and after photos) in a suspected dioxin poisoning incident.
One would hope that the army and police will refuse to fire on demonstrators, and the regime will tumble in the same way as Serbia’s.
---
### Author:  [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukrainian-elections/276553/4 "2004-11-25T04:08:53Z")
I swear **BrainGlutton** ’s [thread in GD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=288433) didn’t show up when I did a search for “Ukrain\*”–even though his thread beats mine by over an hour. Maybe I searched for “Ukraine” instead of doing a truncated search…
Oh, well.
Anyway, I hope Yanukovych is sincere in his recent [comment](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4039329.stm):
> [@](#):
>
> "“I need no fictitious victory, a result which could lead to violence and victims. No position of authority, no matter how important, is worth a single human life.”
Hopefully, violence will be avoided, any evidence of electoral fraud will be thoroughly investigated, and Russia will keep its nose out of this mess.