HTTP/1.1 302 Found Date: Mon, 26 May 2014 05:28:17 GMT Server: Apache Set-Cookie: NYT-S=0MUDozQif7sBvDXrmvxADeHJ9p4WgR3VpUdeFz9JchiAIUFL2BEX5FWcV.Ynx4rkFI; expires=Wed, 25-Jun-2014 05:28:17 GMT; path=/; domain=.nytimes.com Location: http://ift.tt/1mmTpug Content-Length: 0 nnCoection: close Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: Apache Cache-Control: no-cache Channels: NytNow Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Length: 183132 Accept-Ranges: bytes Date: Mon, 26 May 2014 05:28:17 GMT X-Varnish: 1012828664 1012828611 Age: 2 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: HIT
http://nyti.ms/1mmRINx
Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
KIEV, Ukraine â Caught in a battle for influence between Russia and the West, Ukrainians elected Petro O. Poroshenko as president on Sunday, turning to a pro-European billionaire to lead them out of six months of turmoil.
The special election was called by Parliament to replace Viktor F. Yanukovych, who fled Kiev on Feb. 21 after a failed but bloody attempt to suppress a civic uprising, and whose toppling as president set off Russiaâs invasion and annexation of Crimea.
While the election allows Ukraine to open a new chapter in its history, and even President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has indicated recently that he would accept the result, Mr. Poroshenko now faces the excruciatingly difficult task of trying to calm and reunite a country that has been on the edge of financial collapse, and on the verge of a civil war. Among his chief tasks will be to ease tensions with Russia.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage
-
In East, Separatists and Fear Stop VotersMAY 25, 2014
-
In Russia, Tune Changes About Leader in UkraineMAY 25, 2014
-
Election of President Seen as a Beginning to Repairing UkraineMAY 24, 2014
-
For Crimea, Itâs Russian Troops In, Tourists OutMAY 24, 2014
âThe first steps of our team at the beginning of the presidential work will be to put an end to war, to put an end to chaos, to end disorder, and to bring peace to the land of Ukraine â united, unitary Ukraine,â Mr. Poroshenko said in a speech at an arts center in Kiev, where he declared victory shortly after the polls closed. He added, âWe need to do all our best to bring in European values.â
Continue reading the main story Slide Show
View slide show|13 Photos
Ukraine Goes to the Polls
Ukraine Goes to the Polls
Credit Alexey Furman/European Pressphoto Agency
Exit poll results showed Mr. Poroshenko â a confections tycoon known as The Chocolate King and a veteran of Ukrainian politics â with a wide lead over his strongest rival, the former prime minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko. He appeared poised to easily clear the simple-majority threshold needed to avoid a potentially divisive runoff.
Mr. Poroshenko appeared for his victory speech with the former champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, a leader of the street protests that deposed Mr. Yanukovych. Mr. Klitschko was elected on Sunday as mayor of Kiev.
In his remarks, Mr. Poroshenko said he would push for early parliamentary elections â this year â answering a demand by critics of the Yanukovych government who have said installing a new president is not sufficient.
Legislative elections would have a potentially far-reaching effect, not just reshaping Parliament but also allowing for an entirely new government. In February, lawmakers voted to return to a 2004 version of the Constitution, which designates Parliament, not the president, to choose a prime minister and cabinet members.
Despite formidable obstacles in the east, where armed separatists largely prevented voting on Sunday, election officials reported robust turnout throughout the rest of the country. Opora, a monitoring group, estimated turnout nationwide at 60 percent.
International observers also predicted that the presidential vote would receive high marks in meeting standards of fairness. âThere was a sense of determination about it â to get it right,â said Madeleine K. Albright, the former secretary of state who was in Kiev as an observer. âIn many ways, Ukraine spoke through its vote.â
President Obama issued a statement praising the vote and reiterating that the United States does not accept Russiaâs seizing of Crimea. âDespite provocations and violence, millions of Ukrainians went to the polls,â he said.
Although Mr. Poroshenko, 48, won in a landslide, he faces skepticism even among many who voted for him because they are wary of his status as a billionaire businessman and because he is a veteran in Ukraineâs notoriously corrupt politics.
He has been a longtime member of Parliament, where he briefly served as speaker, and was minister of trade and economic development under Mr. Yanukovych and foreign minister under the previous president, Viktor A. Yushchenko.
Mr. Poroshenko has vowed repeatedly to set Ukraine on a pro-European course, and has pledged to sign the political and trade agreements with the European Union that Mr. Yanukovych abandoned, setting off the uprising last fall.
But Mr. Poroshenko has deep business interests in Russia and has previously served in pro-Russian governments, creating some optimism in Moscow that negotiations are possible. In a sign of the intricate, even personal, nature of the relationship, the Russian government seized bank accounts in Russia belonging to Mr. Poroshenkoâs chocolate company, Roshen, this year and closed its factory and warehouse in southern Russia as part of an investigation into unspecified criminal charges.
Mr. Poroshenko has expressed a willingness to mend ties with Russia, but on Sunday he insisted those discussions would also have to involve Ukraineâs territorial claim to Crimea.
Regarding the insurrection, Mr. Poroshenko has repeatedly called for armed separatists to be brought to justice, but he also focused his campaign on the bread-and-butter issues of jobs and the economy, as well as a populist anticorruption message.
Photo
Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
âWe will do the absolutely unique transformation of the country,â Mr. Poroshenko said at a polling site before voting, âwith zero tolerance to corruption, with a very good investment climate, with an independent court system, with all the necessary things to attract business.â
It will not be easy. Mr. Poroshenko inherits an interim government that is unpopular in much of the country, and regarded as illegitimate by many in the east.
Ukraine will be under continuing pressure from Russia, which is demanding billions of dollars for unpaid natural-gas bills, and has made clear that it could cripple the Ukrainian economy at any moment with trade sanctions. There is also pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which has laid out strict requirements, including austerity measures, in exchange for $27 billion in emergency credit that saved the country from default.
While Mr. Poroshenko steered clear of any formal role in the interim government that has run the country since Feb. 28, he has expressed support for settlement talks in recent weeks that address some concerns in the eastern regions with a so-called decentralization plan that will increase the authority of local governments. He has also expressed a willingness to support civic activists pushing for broad government reforms.
In Kiev, there were long lines at polling stations, and voters generally expressed resolve that the country needed to open a new chapter, with a new leader, even if many expressed some disappointment in the choices offered.
âWe are stuck in everything,â said Tatyana Zhukova, a retired engineer, who said she had just voted for Mr. Poroshenko. âI donât see new leaders.â
Ilya Danko, 31, an architect, said he had voted for Mr. Poroshenko with the hope of calming the country by avoiding a second round. âItâs like choosing the best from the worst,â he said.
Mr. Danko, who participated in the street protests that led to Mr. Yanukovychâs ouster, said he had no doubt that Ukraine should follow a European course.
âI personally just compare for many years Ukraine and Poland, because we were at the rather same starting point about 15 years ago,â Mr. Danko said. âNow when I go to Warsaw or Krakow, I see a European country, a very economically developed country, and Ukraine, the main problem is this corruption; it has blocked the normal flow of evolution of development.â
Still, there was a strong sense of the momentousness of the vote, with many wearing vyshyvankas, embroidered Ukrainian national shirts, to show patriotism.
Ivan Grinko 27, a doctor, wore face paint and a T-shirt emblazoned with the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag as he arrived to vote in central Kiev. âPeople want peace,â Mr. Grinko said. âSecondly, itâs higher salaries.â
Sundayâs vote has had the broad support of leaders in Europe and the United States, who view it as a crucial step to installing a pro-Western government. In St. Petersburg, Mr. Putin, too, expressed support on Saturday. âWe will respect any choice made by the Ukrainian people,â he said at a round-table interview with international news agencies.
Violence, including sporadic mortar shelling and gunfire, continued in eastern Ukraine over the weekend. An Italian news photographer, Andrea Rocchelli, 30, and a Russian human rights advocate, Andrei Mironov, 60, working as his interpreter, were killed Saturday by mortar fire, Ukrainian officials said.
Mr. Poroshenko singled out voters in the east, known as Donbas, for thanks and praise. âCitizens of Donbas, even in those conditions where participation in elections was connected with health and life risks, took part in voting,â he said.
In Kiev, Oleh Kovalenko, 53, who works as a driver, said he happily voted for Mr. Poroshenko. âLet one of the richest men in the country â a Chocolate King â rule, and this chaos is over as soon as possible,â he said.
An earlier version of this article misstated the number of months since Viktor F. Yanukovych was ousted as president of Ukraine. It is three, not four.
More on nytimes.com
Site Index
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1jTttYx
No comments:
Post a Comment