Yanukovych wins Ukraine presidential vote, loses room for maneuver
MOSCOW. February 9. KAZINFORM. Viktor Yanukovych's narrow victory over archrival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the presidential runoff is likely to give him Ukraine's top job, but not a free hand to carry out his plans, analysts said on Monday; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.
With nearly 99% of vote counted from Sunday's vote, Yanukovych leads with 48.65% of vote, a mere 2.88% over Tymoshenko, a populist who was among the leaders of the "Orange Revolution" against election fraud which overturned Yanukovych's declared victory in the previous polls in 2004 raising popular protests.
Vadim Karasyov, director of Ukrainian independent think tank Institute of Global Strategies, said the margin was too narrow to give Yanukovych a sound victory.
In the past couple of years Tymoshenko openly squabbled with her former "Orange Revolution" ally, President Viktor Yushchenko, in a feud that badly damaged Ukraine's economy as it struggled with the global crisis, effectively forcing potential foreign creditors to hold back rescue packages.
Yanukovych has already made clear that he will not retain Tymoshenko as prime minister and promised to name his candidate as soon as election smoke clears.
Tymoshenko is likely to fight to the end for her current job. She and Yanukovych have the two biggest factions in parliament, but neither has enough votes to control key nominations and both have to rely heavily on allies from smaller parties.
European officials who monitored the elections have expressed worries that a continued fight between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych over the election results may further damage Ukraine's credentials abroad and hurt the nation's struggling economy; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.