The "third round" of elections is an unprecedented event not only in the history of Ukraine, but worldwide. It became possible after the Supreme Court satisfied the appeal of Victor Yuschenko, stating that the voting during the second round of elections on December 21 was fraud-tarnished, which made the results of elections invalid.
Officially, the Ukrainian CEC announced Mr. Yanukovich the winner of the elections with a close margin. He was unanimously supported by the population of the coal-rich Donetsk region and large industrial regions in the East of the country. Meanwhile, Mr. Yuschenko received an overwhelming support in the west of the country and in the capital of Ukraine.
The day after the voting, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Independence Square in Kiev to demonstrate their protest against the official results and to do whatever it takes to defend their choice. It was the activity of Yuschenko's supporters that led to the consequent compromise between rival political elites. As a result, Ukraine adopted a series of political reforms and introduced new voting procedures with a changed composition of the central election committee.
The so-called "orange revolution" was conducted without bloodshed and major clashes between supporters of two rival candidates. While the opposition blockaded key government buildings, industrial regions supporting Yanukovich announced their readiness to form an autonomy because, in their opinion, the opposition "has stolen" the victory from their candidate.
The country suddenly found itself on the verge of political collapse.
The sides managed to reach a compromise during the eclipse of political confrontation with the help of international parliamentary intermediaries. They agreed to transfer the majority of presidential responsibilities to the Supreme Rada starting 2006.
On the eve of the "third round," both candidates expressed certainty in their respective victories. Meanwhile, large groups of supporters of both candidates are arriving in Kiev to continue the fight for their choice.
The new law on presidential elections reduced the number of absentee votes allowed in each electoral district to 0.5% compared to 4% previously. The opposition believes that it was absentee votes that distorted the results of the previous rounds.
During the current rerun of elections, the election committees use ballots that have imprinted registration number of respective polling stations. Earlier, it was allowed to use "reserve" ballots without registration numbers in case polling stations were running out of registered copies.
New changes also affected the formation of territorial and district election committees. At present, they are formed on a parity basis.
The results of voting at a particular polling station can be deemed invalid if a ballot box contains 5% more ballots than previously distributed among voters, and if observers, journalists and committee members are not allowed, for some reason, to participate in the meetings of a committee and during vote counting.
The deadline to submit claims to courts or higher-level election committee about violations during voting is extended to two days. The authorized bodies must review such claims in two days. A claim against the Central Election Committee can be submitted to the Supreme Court during seven days. The CEC announces the results of presidential elections only after the expiration of the deadline on claim submission and proper revision of all received claims by respective courts and committees.
Representatives of opposition claim that due to these measures the "third round" will become the most fair elections in Ukrainian history."
