Ukraine Holds Its Own ‘Velvet Revolution’

The Central Board of Elections announced that Yanukovych won the second round of presidential elections with 49.42 percent of the votes and that Yushchenko lost with 46.7 in the second round of presidential elections. Although Yushchenko was leading the race according to initial polls, he was suddenly beaten by Yanukovych by three points. Yushchenko responded by calling on the public to practice civil disobedience. He asked his supporters to march towards the parliament before an extraordinary session at the assembly in non-violent opposition. 200,000 of Yushchenko’s supporters responded by holding a "velvet revolution" in front of the parliament where Yushchenko declared himself to be president.

Tension over election results has suddenly divided the country. Over 150 middle-level diplomats including Foreign Ministry Spokesman Markiyan Lubkivskiy have described the elections as a ‘shame.’ Several cities have declared that they will recognize neither the new administration nor the election results.

Parliament convened at the request of the opposition to consider voiding the election, but an absolute majority could not be obtained as only 191 parliamentarians attended the 450-seat parliament. Yushchenko took an oath to serve as president by putting his hand on the Bible at the parliamentary session. A crowd led by Yushchenko later surrounded the presidential palace. The events in Kiev are similar to the ‘velvet revolution’ that occurred in Georgia last year.

The demonstrators that surrounded the presidential palace were reportedly surrounded in turn by Ukrainian Special Forces. The elections have been tainted by reports of 11,000 violations and demonstrators claim that victory has been stolen. Although demonstrators and police are face to face in an intense environment, no incidents of violence have been reported so far.