Thousands Cram Ukraine Streets to Protest Fraud in Election
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

MOSCOW – Ukraine took its first steps toward a Georgian-style revolution yesterday as tens of thousands of demonstrators crammed into downtown Kiev to protest alleged fraud in Sunday’s presidential election, and a handful of major cities refused to recognize official results.
The question now is whether the opposition – led by pro-Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko – will be able to sustain protests in the same way Georgians did during the “Rose Revolution” this time last year.
With more than 99% of precincts counted, official results showed the pro-Moscow prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, won 49.42% of the second round runoff vote, compared with 46.7% going to Mr. Yushchenko. Most exit polls had found Mr. Yushchenko the winner, one by a margin of 11 percentage points. The election was widely seen as a referendum on whether Ukraine – an ex-Soviet state of 48 million wedged between Russia and the European Union – will tilt Westward or remain in the Kremlin’s orbit.
Mr. Yushchenko accused the authorities of “total fraud” and his supporters crowded into the capital’s Independence Square early today. Demonstrators turned the square into a sea of orange – the opposition’s trademark color – and chanted Mr. Yushchenko’s name. Some press reported that more 100,000 protesters had taken to the streets in Kiev.
Meanwhile, the Kiev city council and four major cities in the western heartland of Ukraine – where Mr. Yushchenko’s support is strongest – announced they would not recognize the official results. Protesters gathered in major cities throughout the west, including some 20,000 demonstrators in the region’s major city, Lviv.
Opposition leaders were calling for a general strike and at least one major company, the producer of Roshen chocolate announced it would close its factories for a week in protest.
To deafening cheers, Mr. Yushchenko told the crowd in Independence Square that tens of thousands of protesters from across the country were traveling “on carts, cars, planes, and trains” to join them. “We are launching an organized movement of civil resistance,” he said. “The campaign is just beginning. Don’t leave Independence Square until victory!”
In televised comments, Mr. Yanukovich called for national unity and said: “I categorically will not accept the actions of certain politicians who are now calling people to the barricades. This small group of radicals has taken upon itself the goal of splitting Ukraine.” International observers yesterday declared Sunday’s vote severely flawed.
The strongest objection came from the Republican chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, who said that there had been “a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse.” He called on the outgoing president Leonid Kuchma “to review all of this and take decisive action in the best interests of the country.” The day before the vote, President Bush warned that if the vote was unfair, Washington “will be obliged to review our relations with Ukraine and with individuals who participated in fraud and manipulation.”
The E.U. also called for an urgent review of the result and said Ukrainian ambassadors would be recalled to capitals to discuss “serious concerns” about the vote.
“We are very concerned about the news we have had about the outcome,” said the Dutch foreign minister, Bernard Bot, as E.U. foreign ministers met in Brussels. “Ukraine has to make it clear that it sees its future in the West, and to respect the minimum of democratic rules.” In contrast, President Putin congratulated Mr. Yanukovich on the result and the observer mission from former Soviet republics declared the voting “transparent, legitimate, and free.”
Mr. Putin called Mr. Yanukovich from Brazil, where he is on an official visit, telling him “the battle has been hard-fought, but open and honest, and the victory was convincing,” according to Interfax. Mr. Yanukovich’s supporters held rallies of their own in his power base of eastern Ukraine. Tens of thousands gathered in his home-town of Donetsk and the Black Sea city of Simferopol.
Busloads of riot police and special forces have been brought into Kiev in recent days and fears of violence were high. Ukrainian security bodies warned yesterday that they would put down any lawlessness “quickly and firmly.”
“We appeal to the organizers of mass protests to assume responsibility for their possible consequences,” said a statement issued by the prosecutor general, the Interior Ministry, and the security services.
Ukraine has been on edge for weeks in the midst of the bitter and divisive election campaign. The hard-fought campaign saw Mr. Yushchenko promising to bring Ukraine into the West by joining NATO and the E.U., while Mr. Yanukovich pledged closer ties with traditional ally Russia, which openly supported him. The often-bizarre campaign was marked by allegations of dirty tricks, press intimidation, and even accusations that Mr. Yushchenko was poisoned by his opponents in an assassination attempt.