Yushchenko Lectures Yanukovich During Ukrainian Presidential Debate
In a brazen attempt to address the issues, opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko gave Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich a tongue lashing that he truly deserved. On December 26, Ukraine’s voters will go to the polls to re-run the second round of a presidential election so fraudulent one would have thought the Soviet Union still existed. On Sunday, the two candidates debated, and it looks like the election will now be unstolen.
Initial reaction from the people who watched, and who speak Ukrainian, said that Mr. Yushchenko beat his opponent worse than Mr. Kerry beat Mr. Bush in their first debate. According to BBC translations, the newspaper Stolichnye Novosti, said the PM made "several strategic and tactical mistakes." Meanwhile, the Beeb reported a quotation from Vadim Karasev, director of Ukraine's Institute for Global Strategies, which proclaimed, "Yushchenko's performance was more honest, more substantial and corresponded to the desires of Ukrainians. He seemed to have a moral mandate from the people, unlike his opponent."
To appreciate why this is so, one must look at some of the language used at the debate. Again relying on BBC translations, Mr. Yushchenko said to Mr. Yanukovich, “"Please realize you and your team have stolen three million votes." In addressing the camera, he also said, the PM and his team “tried to steal our future.” He also noted that Mr. Yanukovich claims to be a religious man, and then went on to ask about stealing votes.
For his part, the PM gave not quite as good as he got. Pointing out that Ukraine has orange and blue provinces (Yushchenko's fans wear orange, while Yanukovich is the blue guy in more ways than one), he told his challenger “If you think that you can win and become president of the whole Ukraine - you're mistaken; you'll be a president of only a part of Ukraine.” There remains talk of secession in the south and east if Mr. Yushchenko wins the re-run.
Senator Kerry could have benefited from Mr. Yushchenko’s approach. Had he said, “Mr. Bush was AWOL in the National Guard, his brother stole the election for him, and he took the country into a war based on lies” he still might not have won, but he would have addressed the issues in a more direct and useful way than he did. Perhaps, after December 26, Ukraine will be in a position to help American politicians call things by their real name.
© Copyright 2004 by
The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without
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