Despite the widespread and enthusiastic support for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution, he has already experienced one major setback.
In parliamentary elections held in March and made official in April, Yushchenko’s party came in third, behind both his former opponent Viktor Yanukovych and former supporter Yulia Tymoshenko.
Yuschenko’s party, Bloc Our Ukraine, earned 13.95 percent of the vote, garnering 81 of the 450 seats in Ukraine’s parliament.
Yanukovych’s Party of Regions earned the top spot, with 32.14 percent of the vote, winning it 186 seats. Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Ukraine prime minister, won 22.29 percent of the vote, which earned it 129 seats. The remaining seats were won by Socialist and Communist party candidates.
Tymoshenko served as prime minister until September 2005, when Yushchenko fired her amid accusations of failing to act on campaign promises. But the two have reconciled and are engaged in talks aimed at forming a governing coalition.
Despite the disappointing loss for Yushchenko, Daniel Fried, U. S. assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, noted that the Orange Revolution has not failed.
“After the elections, Ukrainians are debating the right kind of coalition to support the next government, which is normal in parliamentary democracies around the world,” he said. “Ukrainians deserve the right to make their own choices about the kind of government they will have; thanks to the Orange Revolution, they now have that right.”
Share with others: