The strange and long journey of the presidential elections in Ukraine now seems to be coming to a close finally, but the journey has revealed the many fissures in Ukrainian government and society, throw-backs to Cold War intrigue, and hope for democracy and the democratic process. After the results of the first presidential election, in November 2004, between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych (who was the Kremlin’s preferred candidate) and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko were contested, Ukraine was standing at a major crossroad in its post-Soviet development. The Yushchenko camp alleged massive and organized election fraud and demanded another election, as the first one where Yanukovych was declared the winner was flawed. Massive protests on the capital and government ensued, and for awhile it looked like Ukraine might devolve into civil unrest. Supporters of Yanukovych in the eastern part of the country also ominously warned of their lack of support for a Yushchenko government and that they might have to take care of their own part of Ukraine, alluding to possible cession.

The election controversy also exposed corruption and questionable–even criminal–activities by the government in power. Prior to the election, Viktor Yushchenko came down with a mystery ailment and claimed that he was poisoned by the political opponents (See the December 1, 2004, and the October 1, 2004 WAR Reports for more discussion on these issues). He also claimed that this was not the first attempt on his life. Despite his grave illness and altered appearance, no one could definitively prove he was poisoned until after the election when a clinic in Vienna proved that he had been deliberately poisoned with high doses of dioxin. It has also been claimed that there have been attacks and even suspicious deaths of journalists and politicians critical of the current regime, and questionable business dealings between government members and their cronies. This sounds very Machiavellian, and the poisoning plot very KGB/Cold War. Recently, Transport Minister Heorhiy Kyrpa, a supporter of Yanukovych, was found dead in his home, apparently from a self-inflicted wound. A police investigation into his death as ?coercion to commit suicide? is ongoing, but Kyrpa supplied Yanukovych with free trains to transport his supporters to Kiev to counter the so-called Orange Revolution, pro-Yushchenko opposition.

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