Opposition Leader Declares Victory in Ukraine

CLIFFORD J. LEVY The New York Times 02/08/2010 03:45

Viktor Yanukovich

KIEV, Ukraine — The opposition leader Viktor F. Yanukovich appeared on Monday to have won a narrow victory in Ukraine’s presidential election, according to nearly complete results, giving him an unlikely comeback from his humiliating defeat in the 2004 Orange Revolution, when he was shunned as a bumbling Kremlin sidekick.

With 96 percent of the ballots counted from Sunday’s voting, Mr. Yanukovich had 48.3 percent, to 46.1 percent for his Orange opponent, Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko. But Ms. Tymoshenko, who has a reputation as a fierce political combatant, refused to concede on Monday and is expected to contest the election.

“I will do everything to ensure that the citizens of Ukraine, no matter where in the country they live, feel comfortable and calm in a stable country,” Mr. Yanukovich said late Sunday at his campaign headquarters here in the capital. If the final count is certified, it will amount to a rebuke of the Orange Revolution, which was supposed to serve as a post-Soviet model, moving the country toward a European-style democracy, but has instead given rise to political and economic turmoil.

A victory for Mr. Yanukovich would also be a triumph for Moscow in its struggle for influence with the West in the former Soviet Union. While Mr. Yanukovich, with the assistance of an American political consultant, has tried to remake his image so that he is not considered a favorite of Russia, he advocates policies that it welcomes. The Kremlin has been infuriated by Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, saying that the West is infringing upon Moscow’s traditional sphere of influence, and Mr. Yanukovich is vowing to abandon the plan.

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