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CIAO DATE: 6/5/2006
Recent Commentary: Viktor's Choice - Who Will Form Ukraine's Parliamentary Majority?
Steve Pifer
April 2006
Abstract
April 6, 2006
What a difference a year makes. The 2004 Ukrainian presidential election entailed massive fraud, sent hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, and sparked a revolution. The March 26 parliamentary elections, by contrast, were strikingly calm and ordinary. The Orange Revolution's main hero, President Viktor Yushchenko, saw his party, Our Ukraine, come in a disappointing third. He nevertheless remains in the driver's seat in deciding who will make up the ruling coalition in the next Rada (parliament).
The Regions Party, headed by Viktor Yanukovych (Yushchenko's opponent in the 2004 presidential ballot), appeared to win big. Its 32 percent of the vote translates to 185 seats in the 450-seat Rada. But that should not be overstated: Yanukovych polled 44 percent in the final round of the 2004 election.
