Ukraine Braces For Election Showdown

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's main parties staged final rallies on Friday ahead of parliamentary elections Sunday pitting the victors of the "Orange Revolution" in a tight race against their pro-Russian rivals.

People attend a rally of President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine Party
The streets of central Kiev filled with the orange flags of supporters of Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko and his ally Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as the banners of their bitter rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

About 1,000 people attended a rally of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, releasing hundreds of orange balloons into sunny autumn skies on the last day of campaigning.

A couple of hundred metres (yards) away on Independence Square spread a sea of blue flags for Yanukovych's Regions Party, while the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc was due to gather at another public square.

Sunday's election to the single-chamber Rada is a snap poll meant to end a power struggle between Yushchenko and Yanukovych that has paralysed politics in the ex-Soviet republic of 47 million people.

However, no party is expected to gain a clear majority, meaning that all sides will have to enter into fresh coalition talks to try to form a government.

Yushchenko currently shares power with Yanukovych, a tortuous alliance that has led to endless wrangling and constitutional paralysis.

But a good showing by Tymoshenko's party could open the way to her becoming the new premier and resurrecting the team that led the 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution, before splitting up in acrimony.

"The president and I agreed that we must set up a coalition the day after the official results of the election are announced," she told journalists Friday.

Yanukovych, who was defeated in his presidential bid against Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution has proved a tough politician. He has backing from powerful industrial groups in the east of Ukraine and mounted a slick, well-funded campaign.

"We have done enough work to defend people's votes," he said Friday in his power base of Donetsk, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Campaigning has focused on day-to-day issues such as pensions and corruption, a far cry from the ideological passions of the Orange Revolution.

But Washington, the European Union and an increasingly assertive Kremlin are also watching closely for political shifts in the ex-Soviet republic, which is trying for both EU and NATO membership.

The country straddles key Russian gas export routes to energy-hungry EU clients.

Volodimir Fesenko, from the Penta analytical centre, warned that resurrecting the Orange coalition and forcing Yanukovych into opposition could trigger "a chilling of relations with Russia."

Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, fuelled those fears by saying this week that the make-up of the next government will influence what price Russia demands for its natural gas, Kommersant newspaper reported.

Many Ukrainians are turned off by seemingly endless political bickering and there are fears of further street demonstrations and court battles should Sunday's election prompt complaints of vote-rigging.

A report on Friday by the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations expressed concerns over voter registration and voting lists which "might lead to cases of multiple voting and ballot stuffing."

The report also criticised increased "abuse" of state resources in favour of certain parties.

Polls show 68 percent of voters will take part and passions remain high in parts of the country, which is divided into the pro-Moscow, Russian-speaking east and south, and the more nationalist, Ukrainian-speaking west.

Vera Gerasynenko, 56, who was attending the pro-Yushchenko rally with her daughter Maria, 21, said the choice on Sunday was between Ukraine's entry into Europe and being swallowed by giant neighbour Russia.

"Russia needs Ukraine as their colony. They're an empire," she said, describing Yanukovych as "a criminal, a sick man."

Just down the road, Mikhail Sukharkov, 60, claimed "the Orange side is finished," as he handed out Regions Party fliers.

"Tymoshenko has the character of a Nazi. Ukraine will turn into a second Yugoslavia if she takes power," he said.

Source: AFP