http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/12/26/pols/index.html
Full Version: Exit Polls Say Yushchenko Wins!
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| Three exit polls projected Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko the winner by a commanding margin over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in Sunday's fiercely fought presidential rematch. A glum-looking Yanukovych told reporters "if we fail, we will form a strong opposition." He did not concede defeat, saying "I am ready to lead the state" and hinted that he would challenge the results in court. The first official results are not expected until Monday morning. The exit polls tracked an unprecedented third-round presidential election, which was watched by an army of foreign observers stationed at polls to prevent the kind of fraud that sparked weeks of protests in the streets of Kiev, the capital, and sent a flurry of recriminations flying between Russia and the West after last month's court-annulled run-off. The state-funded Ukrainian Institute of Social Research and Social Monitoring Center showed Yushchenko winning with 58.1 percent of the vote and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych garnering 38.4 percent. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. The Western-funded Razumkov Center of Political Studies and Kiev International Institute of Sociology showed Yushchenko winning with 56.5 percent and Yanukovych collecting 41.3 percent of the vote, with no margin of error given. A third exit poll, by Frank Luntz, a pollster for the U.S. Republican Party, and Douglas Schoen, of the Washington-based market research company Penn, Schoen & Berland, showed Yushchenko winning with 56 to Yanukovych's 41 percent, Schoen said. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. "Today Ukraine will have a new president -- Yushchenko. Everybody will feel the changes," Yulia Tymoshenko, a radical opposition leader and Yushchenko ally, told Ukraine's pro-opposition TV5. Tymoshenko's calls for massive protest actions earlier this month and last 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 up the sleeves. The contest was a momentous political event for Ukraine, a nation of 48 million people torn between an 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, hopes to take Ukraine closer to the West and to push through economic and political reforms. The Kremlin-backed Yanukovych, the current prime minister, emphasized tightening the Slavic country's ties with Russia as a means of maintaining stability. Yushchenko has promised to uproot the corruption which saw the former Soviet republic's wealth concentrated in the hands of about a dozen businessmen. Yanukovych has promised to continue work to boost Ukraine's economy -- which enjoys the fastest growth rate in Europe -- and pledged an increase in wages and pensions. Serhiy Shetchkov, 53, a Kiev voter, said he had cast his ballot for Yushchenko -- "of course." "He is an economist and that's what the country needs right now," he said after slipping his ballot into a transparent box at Kiev's Music Conservatory. "I'm not as interested in all this talk about the European Union versus Russia. I'm interested in someone who can raise the standard of living, raise pensions, create more jobs." The political crisis has highlighted the rift between Ukraine's Russian-speaking, heavily industrial east and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west, where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep. Yanukovych backers fear discrimination from the Ukrainian-speaking west, and some eastern regions briefly threatened to seek autonomy if Yushchenko were to win 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 who cast his ballot in the prime minister's eastern stronghold, Donetsk. Yushchenko, whose face remains badly scarred from dioxin poisoning he blamed on Ukrainian authorities, built momentum for the Supreme Court-ordered third vote with round-the-clock protest by supporters, echoing the spirit of the anti-communist revolutions that swept other East European countries in 1989-90. "What we did during the last 30 days was a tribute to our ancestors," Yushchenko told reporters after voting in Kiev's trade union building. "I know they are looking at us from heaven and they are applauding." His backers launched the demonstrations after Yanukovych was named the winner of the fraud-marred Nov. 21 presidential runoff. The Supreme Court later annulled the results and ordered Sunday's repeat vote, which is being monitored by more than 12,000 international observers. The political crisis sparked arguments between Russia, which had backed Yanukovych and insisted that the vote had been free and fair, and the West, which stubbornly held out for a new contest. Each side accused the other of undue interference in Ukraine's affairs. "We hope for a free, fair vote that meets international standards and results in an outcome truly reflecting the will of Ukraine's people," said U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay. (Great. What about America, though???) Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma said he hoped the results will stick this. "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. "I think the public is looking for this to be over," said Schoen. "The public is looking to move ahead," he said, adding that Ukrainians "are more excited about what the future might bring them." By 3 p.m., the Central Election Commission had reported 55.2 percent turnout with 90 percent of Ukraine's precincts reporting. Despite the huge presence of foreign observers, both campaigns complained of some violations. Yanukovych's campaign alleged that Yushchenko campaign material was found near some voting booths. Yushchenko's headquarters, meanwhile, complained that the names of the dead were included on a voter list in Donetsk. In spite of fears of violence, no major incidents were reported by Sunday evening. As the voting wound down, about a dozen pro-Yushchenko protesters sat around campfire in the opposition tent camp, drinking hot tea, while nearby someone played the guitar. Three men wearing Yanukovych's white-and-blue scarves stood outside the camp's makeshift barriers, watching. The two groups didn't talk to each other. On Saturday, the Constitutional Court ruled against some amendments passed earlier this month that would have allowed only people with certain disabilities to vote at home. The court said all those unable to reach polling stations because of a disability or ill health must be allowed to vote at home. But it was unclear if the ruling would help or hurt Yanukovych, who enjoys strong backing from the elderly and disabled. His campaign workers had planned to ferry many homebound elderly to the polls, and logistics may have prevented more from taking advantage of the last-minute ruling. |
So. It looks like Ukraine has finally gotten a clean re-vote.
How about America???
'Bina.
Now, I want to see if those exit polls are any more "accurate" than those exit polls in our own election...and what the reaction here will be if it turns out like our election did.
It would be something to see whether they can fix the voting booths as well as Dubya's people did...errrr, OOPS, did I say that???
Anthony
It would be something to see whether they can fix the voting booths as well as Dubya's people did...errrr, OOPS, did I say that???
Anthony
Does anyone else find the Ukrane elections just slightly dodgy? not only that there might or might not have been a "poisioning" of one candidate, they had to re-run the election etc.. not all that..... the fact that all the media are just SO INTERESTED in it?
just suprising really, just doesnt appear to be a big thing, but it apparently is the key country in the Eurasian map, according to Brezezinsk
Oooh look at this little gold mine of info! None of the media told us this ! hey we have been had??
just suprising really, just doesnt appear to be a big thing, but it apparently is the key country in the Eurasian map, according to Brezezinsk
Oooh look at this little gold mine of info! None of the media told us this ! hey we have been had??
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Washington Interest in Ukraine: US Intervention for 'Democracy'? By William Engdahl The current battle over the election for President to succeed the pro-Moscow Leonid Kuchma in Ukraine is more complex than the general Western media accounts suggest. Both Putin and Bush are engaged in highest stakes geopolitical power plays. Both sides in Ukraine have evidently engaged in widespread vote fraud. Western media chooses to report only one side, however. Case in point: the British human rights group, Helsinki Watch Group, reports it found more vote irregularities on the side of the opposition Yushchenko than from the pro-Moscow Yanukovych. The Kuchma regime is anti-democratic and no model for human rights, one factor which feeds an opposition movement. Yet the issue is Eurasian geopolitical control far more than is realized. The Ukraine election is not about Western US-sanctioned democratic voting, as some magic formula to open the door to free market reform. It is about who controls the largest neighbor of Russia, Washington or Moscow. A dangerous power play by Washington is involved. A look at the geo-strategic setting, makes things clearer. Ukraine is historically tied to Russia, geographically and culturally. It is Slavic, and home of the first Russian state, Kiev Rus. Its 52 million people are the second largest in eastern Europe, and it is regarded as the strategic buffer between Russia and a string of new US NATO bases from Poland to Bulgaria to Kosovo, all of which have carefully grown up since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most important, Ukraine is the transit land for most major Russian Siberian gas pipelines to Germany and the rest of Europe. Yushchenko favors EU membership and NATO membership for Ukraine. Not surprising, he is backed strongly by Washington. Zbigniew Brzezinski has been directly involved on behalf of the Administration in grooming Yushchenko for his role. As far back as November 2001 Yushchenko was wined and dined in Washington by the Bush Administration, paid for by the semi-private Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Martin Foulner in the Glasgow Herald of November 26 reported the details of the meeting. The NED was set up during the Reagan Administration by Congress, to ‘privatize’ certain CIA operations, and allow Washington to claim clean hands in certain foreign operations. Ukraine is part of a wider US pattern of active ‘regime change’ in eastern Europe and Central Asia. The NED is US Government funded. Brzezinski was also directly involved in Ukraine, and has openly condemned the election results along with Henry Kissinger. Brzezinski’s entire career has been to dismantle Russian power in Eurasia since the time he was Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council head. If Brzezinski succeeds in getting his hand-picked man in Kiev, that will be a major step in the direction of US domination of all Eurasia. That, of course, is the aim, as Brzezinski makes explicit in his writings. It is useful to quote Brezezinski directly from his now famous 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives. "Geopolitical pivots are the states whose importance is derived not from their power and motivation but rather from their sensitive location and from the consequences of their potentially vulnerable condition for the behavior of geostrategic players… Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey and Iran play the role of critically important geopolitical pivots… "Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state, more likely to be drawn into debilitating conflicts with aroused Central Asians, who would then be supported by their fellow Islamic states to the south. "However, if Moscow regains control over Ukraine, with its 52 million people and major resources as well as access to the Black Sea, Russia automatically again regains the wherewithal to become a powerful imperial state, spanning Europe and Asi[B]a. "Ukraine’s determination to preserve its independence was encouraged by external support. In July 1996, the US secretary of defense declared, 'I cannot overestimate the importance of Ukraine as an independent country to the security and stability of all of Europe,' while in September, the German chancellor…went further in declaring that 'Ukraine’s firm place in Europe can no longer be challenged by anyone…' "The states deserving America’s strongest geopolitical support are Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine, all three being geopolitcally pivotal. Indeed, Kiev’s role reinforces the argument that Ukraine is the critical state, insofar as Russia’s own future evolution is concerned." Putin and Moscow fully realize the stakes, which explains Putin’s open backing of the Yanukovych win at the start of this drama. There is a distinct pattern of US covert aid in changing regimes in Eastern Europe, in which Ukraine fits the pattern. The Belgrade vote in 2000 to beat Milosevic was organized and run by US Amabassador Richard Miles. This is well documented by Balkan sources. Significantly, the same Miles was then sent to Georgia where he engineered the toppling of Shevardnadze in favor of the US-groomed Mikhail Saakashvili last year, another pro-NATO man on Moscow’s fringe. James Baker III played a key role as well as many noted at the time. Now Miles is covertly involved in Kiev with the US Ambassador there, John Herbst, former Ambassador in Uzbekistan. Curious coincidence? The Ukraine ‘democratic youth’ organization, Pora (‘high time’) is a slick, USA-created entity. It is modeled on the Belgrade youth group, Otpor, which Miles also set up with help of the NED and Soros’ Open Society, US AID and friends. Pora was given a brand image for selling to the Western media, a slick logo of a black-white clenched fist. It even has a nifty name, the ‘chestnut revolution’ as in ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire…’ Before he came into power, Saakashvili was brought by Miles to Belgrade to study the model there. In the Ukraine, according to British media and other accounts, George Soros’ Open Society, the US government’s ‘private’ National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which played the key role in toppling Milosevic in 2000, and the Carnegie Endowment, along with State Department USAID, all are involved in fostering Ukraine regime change. Little wonder Moscow is a bit concerned with Washington actions in Ukraine. A key part of the media game has been the claim that Yushchenko won ‘exit polls.’ What is not said is that the people doing these ‘exit polls’ as voters left voting places, were US-trained and paid by Freedom House, a neo-conservative operation in Washington. They trained 1,000 poll observers who declared an 11 point lead for Yushchenko which triggered the mass marches claiming fraud. The current head of the Freedom House is former CIA chief and outspoken neo-conservative, R. James Woolsey. On the Freedom House board sits none other than Zbigniew Brzezinski. This is hardly an impartial human rights organization. Why does Washington care so much about vote integrity next door to Russia? Is Ukraine democracy more important than Azeri or Iraqi ‘democracy’? There is something else going on than what appears to be a vote contest. We have to ask why it is that the Bush Administration suddenly is so keen on the sanctity of the democratic vote process as to risk an open break with Moscow at this time. Eurasian oil geopolitics US policy, as Brzezinski openly stated in The Grand Chessboard, is to Balkanize Eurasia and ensure that no possible link between Russia and the EU and China emerges in the future that might challenge US global hegemony. This is the idea of the Bush Doctrine of ‘pre-emptive wars.’ In taking control of Ukraine, Washington would take a giant step to encircle Russia for the future. Russian moves to use its vast energy reserves to play for room in rebuilding its political role would be over. Chinese efforts to link with Russia to secure some independence from US energy control would also be over. Iran’s attempts to secure support from Russia against the Washington pressure would end. Washington policy is also to control directly the oil and gas flows from the Caspian including Turkmenistan, and to counter Russian regional influence from Georgia to Ukraine to Azerbaijan and Iran. Oil pipeline politics are also directly involved in the fight for control of Ukraine. In July 2004 the Ukraine Parliament voted to open an unused oil pipeline to transport oil from Russian Urals fields to the port of Odessa. The Bush Administration vehemently protested this would make Ukraine more dependent on Moscow. Ukraine Geopolitics |
well well well...... that is sort of what I was thinking.. this isnt just a corrupt election, its been rigged by Washington! exactly the reason why its in the news ALL THE TIME!
Icing on the cake?
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| US Secretary of State Colin Powell hailed the election as "full, free, fair" and the EU's Dutch presidency said it was "looking forward to a new phase in Ukraine's development". BBC |
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