Ukraine Swings West. But Could A Divided Parliament Derail Reform?
Pro-Europe parties showed strongly in Ukraine's elections Sunday. But an unexpectedly high tally for Prime Minister Yatsenyuk's party hints a possible repeat of the politics that upended a post-Orange Revolution Ukraine.
By Fred Weir, Correspondent October 27, 2014
Kiev, Ukraine — Ukraine's elections were democratic and legitimate. Now the hard part begins: changing the country.
That's the snap judgment of most experts on Sunday's parliamentary elections, overwhelmingly won by pro-European parties that can be expected to spurn Moscow, push for liberal economic reforms, and seek closer ties with the West.
With most votes counted Monday, the respective parties of President Petro Poroshenko and his ambitious prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, were the big winners, taking roughly 21 percent each. The results were a modest setback for Mr. Poroshenko, whose bloc held a commanding lead ahead of polling. He lauded the vote, noting that three-quarters of Ukrainians had endorsed Ukraine's shift away from the Russian orbit and into Europe's.
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Preliminary results suggest that six parties cleared the 5 percent threshold to take up seats in Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The liberal Self-Help party, based in western Ukraine and solidly pro-European, took around 11 percent. The ultra-nationalist bloc of Oleh Lyashko came in with just over 7 percent, and the party of fiery populist Yulia Tymoshenko got around 6 percent.
One result that polls failed to predict was the surprising success of the east Ukraine-based Opposition Bloc, which pledged to defend the interests of east Ukrainians against Kiev's dictates. It received almost 10 percent of votes cast.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/1027/Ukraine-swings-West.-But-could-a-divided-parliament-derail-reform
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