Voting starts in Ukraine’s bitterly fought presidential election; rivals trade fraud claims

Polls open in Ukraine’s bitterly fought election

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainians voted Sunday in a runoff election between two bitterly opposed presidential candidates, a vote that some observers predict could be settled in the courts.

The former Soviet nation’s 37 million registered voters are choosing between Russian-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came to international prominence in the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution.

For many voters, the two candidates represent a choice between bolstering ties with the West and repudiating the leadership of the Orange protests.

“I am voting against the return of our Soviet past,” 40-year-old businessman Vladimir Khivrenko said at a polling station near the Maidan, the central square in Kiev where vast crowds rallied for weeks in late 2004.

“Tymoshenko has promised us a new path to Europe, and I believe her,” he said.

If Yanukovych wins, it will be an impressive reversal of fortune. His Kremlin-backed election as president five years ago triggered the mass Orange demonstrations, and his win was thrown out on grounds of fraud.

His appeal is strong among voters disillusioned by the outcome of the Orange Revolution.

“I want stability and order,” said 60-year old retiree Tatyana Volodaschuk. “Yanukovych offers us the guarantee of a normal life.”

Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko drew a meager 5.5 percent in the first round of voting on Jan. 17, missing the runoff. He was ushered to power by the Orange movement, but his popularity withered when he failed to implement promised economic and political reforms amid financial turmoil.

Yanukovych polled 10 percentage points ahead of Tymoshenko in the first round. Opinion polls have been banned in the run-up to the vote, but analysts predict the final vote will be closer and expect both sides to resort to legal maneuvering and demonstrations if defeat looms.

Tymoshenko cast her ballot in the industrial center of Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine.

“I voted for a new Ukraine — a beautiful and European Ukraine — and for people to live happily. I will serve Ukraine with all my heart,” she said, flanked by her husband.

In Kiev, Yanukovych said the election would mark the “first step in overcoming the crisis.”

“The people of Ukraine deserve a better life, so I voted for positive changes, stability and a strong Ukraine,” he said.

Earlier in the morning at the same polling station, four female members of the activist group FEMEN staged a protest by stripping to the waist and shouting, “This is the end of democracy” in protest at what they see as widespread manipulation of the democratic system.

Their eye-catching protests have underscored a sense of distrust of government among Ukrainian voters.

Yushchenko, voting at his local polling station just a few steps from the Maidan, said election day was a chance to show there could be a peaceful transfer of power, but nevertheless took a shot at his two rivals.

“I think that the people of Ukraine will be ashamed of the choice they have to make,” he said.

Yushchenko has urged his supporters to vote against both candidates, which is possible in the Ukrainian electoral system.

Both candidates’ camps have traded charges of electoral fraud in the days ahead of the vote.

Yanukovych’s camp alleged Saturday that Tymoshenko’s supporters delivered ballots to polling stations that had incorrect numerical codes, giving officials an excuse to declare them invalid.

Tymoshenko’s forces accused her rival of blocking up to 1,000 of her supporters from taking their seats on local election boards in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, a Yanukovych stronghold.

Outside the Central Election Commission in Kiev, Yanukovych supporters have set up dozens of tents and erected a stage in preparation for postelection meetings and protests.

The elections come as the country’s frail economy reels from the devastating impact of global financial crisis.

Ukraine’s currency crashed in 2008, the economy sputtered and the International Monetary Fund had to step in with a $16.4 billion bailout. GDP plunged 15 percent in 2009, and according to the World Bank, Ukraine will have only anemic growth this year.

Associated Press writers Douglas Birch and Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report.