久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Ukraine's Yushchenko declares victory
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-27 09:19

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory Monday in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election, telling thousands of supporters they had taken their country to a new political era.

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko greets supporters during a rally in Kiev's main Independence Square December 27, 2004. Viktor Yushchenko claimed victory on Monday in a re-run of Ukraine's rigged presidential election, hailing the beginning of a new era in the former Soviet republic. [Reuters]
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko greets supporters during a rally in Kiev's main Independence Square December 27, 2004.  Viktor Yushchenko claimed victory on Monday in a re-run of Ukraine's rigged presidential election, hailing the beginning of a new era in the former Soviet republic. [Reuters]
"We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free," Yushchenko told the festive crowd in Kiev's central Independence Square, the center of weeks of protests after the fraudulent and now-annulled Nov. 21 ballot in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had been declared the winner.

"Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine."

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
A combination of photos showing Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych (L) and opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko (R)casting their ballots in Kiev on December 26, 2004.[Xinhua]
Yushchenko spoke after three exit polls and partial results projected him winning easily in Sunday's Supreme Court-ordered rematch.

"Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you," he said.

Earlier, Yushchenko told journalists and others crammed into his campaign headquarters that Ukraine had opened a new era, which would include neither current President Leonid Kuchma nor Yanukovych, the prime minister and candidate hand-picked by Kuchma to be his successor.

With ballots from just over 50 percent of precincts counted, Yushchenko was leading by 56.34 percent to 39.85 percent, election officials said.

Earlier in the evening, a dejected-looking Yanukovych told reporters in Kiev "if there is a defeat, there will be a strong opposition." But he did not concede, saying "I am ready to lead the state," and hinted he would challenge the results in the courts.

"We will defend the rights of our voters by all legal means," he said, ruling out negotiations with Yushchenko were the opposition leader to win.

Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko during a rally in Kiev's Independence square, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. Three exit polls projected Yushchenko winning a commanding victory Sunday over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the country's fiercely fought presidential election. [AP]
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko during a rally in Kiev's Independence square, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. Three exit polls projected Yushchenko winning a commanding victory Sunday over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the country's fiercely fought presidential election. [AP]
Some 12,000 foreign observers had watched Sunday's unprecedented third round to help prevent a repeat of the apparent widespread fraud on Nov. 21 that prompted the massive protests inside the nation and a volley of recriminations between Russia and the West.

Both campaigns complained of violations, but monitors said they'd seen far fewer problems.

"This is another country," said Stefan Mironjuk, a German election monitor observing the vote in the northern Sumy region. "The atmosphere of intimidation and fear during the first and second rounds was absent ... It was very, very calm."

Yushchenko echoed that sentiment in the speech at his campaign headquarters.

"Three or four months ago, few people knew where Ukraine was. Today almost the whole world starts its day thinking about what is happening in Ukraine," he said.

The vote count got under way after polls closed at 8 p.m., and the Central Election Commission estimated that turnout was around 75 percent.

"Today Ukraine will have a new president — Yushchenko. Everybody will feel the changes," Yulia Tymoshenko, a radical opposition leader and Yushchenko ally, told pro-opposition TV5.

Tymoshenko's calls for massive protests after the Nov. 21 runoff earned her the nickname "Goddess of the Revolution." She appeared to revel in her role Sunday, wearing an orange-and-black shirt with the word "Revolution" running the length of the sleeves.

With Yushchenko supporters clad in orange campaign colors, the peaceful protests became known as the "Orange Revolution."

The election outcome was momentous for Ukraine, a nation of 48 million people caught between the eastward-expanding European Union and NATO, and an increasingly assertive Russia, its former imperial and Soviet-era master.

Yushchenko, a former Central Bank chief and prime minister, vowed to take Ukraine closer to the West and advance economic and political reform. The Kremlin-backed Yanukovych emphasized tightening the Slavic country's ties with Russia as a means of maintaining stability.

Yushchenko promised to uproot the corruption that concentrated the former Soviet republic's wealth in the hands of about a dozen tycoons. Yanukovych promised to continue work to boost Ukraine's economy — which enjoys the fastest growth in Europe — and pledged an increase in wages and pensions.

Serhiy Shetchkov, a 53-year-old Kiev voter, said he opted for Yushchenko because "he is an economist and that's what the country needs right now."

"I'm interested in someone who can raise the standard of living, raise pensions, create more jobs," he said.

The political crisis had cast a harsh glare on the rift between Ukraine's Russian-speaking, heavily industrial east and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west, where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep. Yanukovych backers feared discrimination by the Ukrainian-speaking west, and some eastern regions briefly threatened to seek autonomy if Yushchenko won the presidency.

"I am voting for independence (of eastern Ukraine), an end to feeding those lazy westerners! My vote goes to Yanukovych," said Hrihoriy Reshetnyak, a 44-year-old miner in Donetsk.

Yushchenko, whose face remains badly scarred from dioxin poisoning he blamed on Ukrainian authorities, built on the momentum of round-the-clock protests that echoed the spirit of the anti-communist revolutions that swept other East European countries in 1989-90.

"Thousands of people that were and are at the square were not only waiting for this victory but they were creating it," Yushchenko said. "In some time, in a few years, they'll be able to utter these historic words: Yes, this is my Ukraine, and I am proud that I am from this country."

Kuchma, the outgoing president, said Sunday he hoped the results of the vote would not be disputed. "In my opinion, the one who loses should call and congratulate the winner ... and put an end to this prolonged election campaign."

Pollsters said they heard the same sentiment of fatigue from voters. Taras Korolyov, 28, brought his wife Lesya, 25, and three-year old daughter Olena to Independence Square after the polls closed Sunday night.

"We brought our daughter here to see the birth of freedom," Korolyov said as his daughter waved a tiny orange flag and chanted "Yu-shchen-ko, Yu-shchen-ko."

A World War II-vintage motorcycle draped in orange ribbons drove through the crowd, honking. "This bike saw the liberation of Kiev (from Nazi Germany), and now is seeing another liberation of Ukraine," said the biker, Oleksandr, who would only give his first name.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Asian tsunami kills 12,300, many more homeless

 

   
 

Military to crush attempt to split Taiwan

 

   
 

Hu sends condolences; relief team ready

 

   
 

Anti-secession law called 'timely'

 

   
 

Antarctic team halfway to peak

 

   
 

Law to make officials 'take blame and quit'

 

   
  Asian tsunami kills 12,300, many more homeless
   
  Ukraine's Yushchenko declares victory
   
  Iraq rejects U.S. talk of adjusting vote result
   
  Hamas' win in town elections challenges Abbas
   
  Islamic site shows attack on Mosul base
   
  Gas explosion kills at least 17 in Algeria
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Ukraine's Yushchenko seen heading for win
   
Judge creates election twist in Ukraine
   
Ukraine candidates clash over west in final appeals
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 精品日韩一区二区三区 | 日韩视频观看 | 国产精品美女久久久久网站 | 日韩精品在线观看免费 | 久久草在线视频免费 | 亚洲精品国产第一区第二区国 | 日本视频一区二区三区 | 在线视频三区 | 中文字幕精品在线观看 | 美国一级毛片不卡无毒 | 精品亚洲成a人片在线观看 精品亚洲成a人在线播放 | 一级毛片韩国 | 久久久国产精品视频 | 91久久青青草原免费 | 国产午夜在线观看视频播放 | 国产伦精品一区二区三区免费 | 日本一区二区三区在线 视频 | 精品免费久久久久国产一区 | 国产精品久久久精品视频 | 国产在线不卡免费播放 | 国产99视频精品免视看9 | 国产亚洲视频在线播放大全 | 久久99亚洲精品久久久久网站 | 黑色丝袜美美女被躁视频 | 日本精品高清一区二区2021 | 国产精品夜色视频一级区 | 手机免费毛片 | 久久黄网| 99精品在线看 | 亚洲精品久一区 | 富二代精品视频 | 欧美成人另类69 | 国产成人免费午夜在线观看 | 性做久久久久久久免费看 | 欧美极品大肚孕妇孕交 | 成人免费在线播放 | 绝对真实偷拍盗摄高清在线视频 | 国产五区 | 中国一级毛片在线观看 | 男女那个视频免费 | 久久a级片|