Word: yanukovych
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Five years ago, Viktor Yanukovych was the villain who sparked Ukraine's Orange Revolution. Now he is set to become the country's newest democratically elected President. A complete but uncertified count Feb. 10 gave Yanukovych a lead of 3.5 percentage points over his rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in a presidential race that international observers dubbed "an impressive display of democratic elections." Tymoshenko has refused to concede defeat, though, and her team says it may launch a legal challenge to the result. Few analysts give her much hope of success...
Both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych have promised to repair relations with Moscow, but that won't necessarily signal a return to the Kremlin's fold. Tymoshenko, whose support base is in the pro-European west, has pledged to steer Ukraine into the European Union within five years, while Yanukovych has recast himself as a moderate who also wants to forge closer ties with the E.U. Tymoshenko has presented a clearer agenda toward a European future and says Yanukovych will take the country back to the "Stone Age," but critics question whether she can push through unpopular but sorely needed reforms...
...difference between the two lies as much in their style as in substance. Yanukovych comes across as a Soviet-era apparatchik who wears crocodile-skin shoes while talking of protecting society's weakest and poorest. Tymoshenko appears a sharp-tongued social crusader famous for her big promises and designer clothes. Both are widely seen as opportunists and few Ukrainians believe they will bring the kind of changes millions long for. "Ukrainians are ready to be mobilized," says Dmytro Potekhin, a civil-society activist. "There's just no one to mobilize them...
...Viktor Yanukovych Profile: A former mechanic, became a regional governor and then was twice named Prime Minister Quote: "I'm told it's useless and wrong to argue with a woman ... And if she is a woman, she should go to the kitchen" - Yanukovych on refusing to debate with his opponent...
Yulia Tymoshenko Profile: Entered politics after making a fortune in the gas industry, serving first as Deputy Prime Minister and then twice as Prime Minister Quote: "I do not want a common coward to become the next leader of our nation" - Tymoshenko after Yanukovych failed to appear for their TV debate...