23/11/2004 11:02:21 am
What Direction for Ukraine? Indeed the situation is dramatic in Ukraine. The protests from the supporters of the opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko continue to grow after the presidential election two days ago. The claims from the opposition that there was massive fraud are confirmed by international observers that have reported thousands of irregularities. The chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in the Swedish parliament, Urban Ahlin, actually personally observed how the people of the current Ukrainian Prime Minister tried to steal the ballots where the support for the opposition was strong. In the capital, Kiev, it is said that the real support for the opposition was about 75 per cent. Now, as protests are mounting, the government security forces threatens to stop them with force. They are already reported to try to stop people from going to Kiev to join the protests. This all reminds of Georgia not too long ago, and Serbia a few years ago. In both cases, the authoritarian system and its last leaders were thrown over. Hopefully, this will be the outcome here as well. It has already gone so far that it seems hard to imagine how the current PM could even enter Kiev physically to be sworn in as President. If the pro-western opposition leader would win this struggle, backed by a strong popular movement, that would have a huge impact on Ukraine?s future direction - towards Europe, towards a more stable democracy.


Read more at BBC - >