Ukraine's key election 'rigged' (look for Bush to congrat Yanukovych

[kostya]

for a fine job in stealing the election. Exit polls showed Yushchenko well ahead, but guess what, Yanukovych is now ahead a few percentage points with 70% of the vote reported. A policeman was killed at one polling station and several ballot boxes in Yushchenko friendly precints were set afire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4031127.stm

Ukraine's opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko has accused the authorities of rigging Sunday's fiercely fought presidential run-off.

Mr Yushchenko urged his supporters to stage peaceful morning street protests.

With 71% of the votes counted, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had won 49% of the votes against Mr Yushchenko's 47%, the electoral commission said.

However, several exit polls had earlier showed pro-Western Mr Yushchenko ahead of the Moscow-backed prime minister.


I believe that the reason and level-headed thinking of Ukrainians will prevail
Viktor Yanukovych

"I believe in my victory but the government... has staged total fraud in the elections in the (eastern) Donetsk and Lugansk regions," Mr Yushchenko said in a statement.

"I do not trust the Central Electoral Commission," he added, calling for a mass morning rally in the main square of the capital, Kiev.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. Where are the Diebold machines, where oh where can they be

So now that they are the experts on election stealing, they have decided to take it over seas. They will want to get rid to the exit polls over there now, you think, evil schrub and posse at work again.

[kostya]

2. Naive me, I would have thought we'd rig it so the pro-Europe

guy would win (Yushchenko), but since Bushie is so buddy-buddy with his soulmate Putin, what do I know?

[alittlelark]

3. I think things are lining up in such a way that

'Old Europe' is not an ally, but Russia and her satellites are. US and Russia concerned about Chinese dominance.....

"May you live in interesting times" - ancient Chinese curse.

[Straight Shooter]

4. I guess their exit polls are mysteriously inaccurate, too

Well, we sure don't have the right to point fingers at sham elections elsewhere around the world, do we?

Thanks, bush, for kicking America off the high road and into the ditch.

[lies and propaganda]

5. Wally Odell:

"I guarantee the Ukraine's electoral votes."

hahahah

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. This does look suspicious

"Mr Yushchenko's supporters say they do not believe the official turnout figure of 96% in eastern Ukraine.
...
In the first round the eastern regions showed strong support for Mr Yanukovych - a former governor of Donetsk."

In an election where you're not forced to vote, I think a turnout of 96% would be unprecedented, anywhere in the world.

[papau]

8. sounds like Rove getting the 8 million new GOP voters out!

but then our media says Rove is a genius on motivating those GOP that never voted before!

[leftchick]

7. 'Massive fraud' mars Ukrainian election

http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=e2d7897f-7905-4d91-ab0c-a9a45e0eae90


~snip~
EDMONTON - Canadian observers monitoring elections in Ukraine say they have witnessesed "systemic and massive fraud" in an election considered to be a key test of democracy for the country.

The contest between presidential candidates Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko could determine whether the country maintains strong ties with Russia or forges new relationships with the West.

"There was systemic and massive fraud in some regions of the country," Edmonton lawyer and obsever James Jacuta said from Kyiv as election results continued to roll in early this morning.

"Canadian observers were detained for hours at a time, Canadian observers had their passports taken away, they weren't allowed at the polling stations, they observed fraudulent electoral methodologies and actions."

[Jack Rabbit]

9. Update from the BBC: Huge poll protest grips Ukraine

From the BBC Online
Dated Monday November 22 13:21 GMT (5:21 am PST)

Huge poll protest grips Ukraine

The Ukrainian opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, has told tens of thousands of his supporters in the capital Kiev to stage a civil disobedience campaign.
The pro-western liberal's supporters have filled the city centre, insisting that he won Sunday's presidential poll.

The international poll watchdog, the OSCE, said the run-off vote fell far short of European democratic norms.

With nearly all the votes counted, the authorities say Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has a narrow lead.

I hope we don't get to this point in America, but we are a lot closer than I thought we would be when I was a youngster.

[kostya]

10. Yeah, except here it seems people don't care enough to

take to the streets. :(

It's sad there in the sense that this is the first time Ukraine has been an independent country for any significant time (once before in the early 1900s for about 2 years). It's a hard row to hoe there for real democracy, still not an adequate justice system to back up real reforms. And, they continue to be under Russia's thumb. Most of the people in the SE who were voting for Yanukovych are "immigrants" forced on the country when the Soviets heavily industrialized the area, much the same as in the Baltics.

They should probably split the country in two.

- K

[SoCalDem]

11. Take to the streets??

and miss Survivor?? or American Idol?? or get arrested??

This is America.. we don't protest..we kvetch :)..and then we see what's on TV ..and have a few beers...and order pizza..:(

[proudbluestater]

12. Democracy Now! Showed the Protest in the Ukraine

It was indeed a massive turnout. Like two of you guys said, what the hell is wrong with us? I keep logging in here and other places every day looking for that Massive Protest WE have planned and see nothing.
The religious right is pushing their agenda already. Abortion rights are getting hit already by the latest bill passed in Congress, all due to the "mandate" the regime stole.

We need to revisit the sixties and take some action. This sitting around hand-wringing and waiting for recounts is non-productive. Even our candidate doesn't bother to speak out about the fraud.

I found this site, http://www.counter-inaugural.org, but to me that's a little too late to BEGIN a protest.

[SoCalDem]

14. Even when people DO protest

our dear media says stuff like "a few hundred "anarchists" milled around in the streets"...or they show NOTHING at all

---

Honey, where's the bird?

[RedCloud]

16. Gentle Konstantin

Is it true that Russians ruled the USSR? Do you think that Lenin, stalin and so many others from outside Mother Russia wasn't a way to appeal to the other regions? Did not the USSR put major amounts of arms in Kazakhstan?

Also, Haven't the Ukraine and Russia taken turns with their names and cultures for about 1,000 years? Pretty much they are interchangeable people.

For other readers, would the USA ever and I mean ever have a leader of another "friendly" nation rule over them? Would they trust other component nations to store their arms in?

[kostya]

18. You are insulting a lot of Ukrainians

You should read up a bit on your history instead of making so many assumptions, assumptions that are often made by Westerners. For instance, did you know that Ukraine used to be part of the Swedish Empire? Did you know that Kyiv is the birthplace of the Slav culture? Have you not even heard of the forced engineered famine of the '30s imposed by Stalin? Go educate yourself then you can make some serious comments. - K

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Not Bush, but Putin ...

"Moscow, which backed Prime Minister Yanukovych, recognised the election result.

"I have congratulated Viktor Yanukovych for his victory," said President Vladimir Putin's personal envoy, Boris Gryzlov. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4031981.stm

[kostya]

19. Is there really such a difference between the two?

[leQ]

21. is lugar fighting bush on this one?

from the NYTIMES:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/international/europe/23ukraine.html?oref=login

With the opposition filling the landmark square, an international election observer mission - from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe - released a preliminary report that buoyed them, declaring that the election did not meet democratic standards.

The observers' findings were seconded by Senator Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who had led an American mission to Ukraine to urge the departing president, Leonid D. Kuchma, to organize fair elections.

"A concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," the senator said Monday in Kiev.

[makhno]

15. Take this with a grain of salt

Yushchenko is very much a Western puppet and proponent of the kind of shock therapy economic reform that devastated Russia in the '90s. While Yanukovich is no saint, the uproar over electoral fraud in the Western media is very much in the vein of the anti-Chavez propaganda we saw during the Venezuela referendum earlier this year.

Don't be fooled into supporting another American puppet.

[Chomp]

17. A Hugely Important Story

Really terrifying prospects in play with this story. Hundreds of thousands on the streets. What will Putin do? Because those people are not moving. I find it hard to believe he could get away with any brutality, but fuck me it's scary.

* and Putin are a lethal combination. Gruesome fellow-travellers on Chechneya. Huge energy interests both. Enormous hard-ons for power. Big global strategic issues in play. The way * & Vlad paint legitimate dissent as t********. Very scary. (Although, it's probably a good thing they do get on. Martin Sheen at the end of The Dead Zone. Shudder.)

Bush Administration policies in this part of the world are quite shocking, so form does not bode well in any of this. I wonder what the neo-cons and PNAC has to say about this region? I must read up on it, but I'll bet you it ain't pretty!

And when we start hearing the "T" word being thrown about, then we know that the world truly is venturing into a whole new, post-democracy ballgame.

[kostya]

20. Kyiv Protest Photo (many media call this 10s of thousands)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/041123/photos_wl/mdf772409&e=2&ncid=708