For Ukrainians, it's 'déjà vote'

Worries about violence and fraud persist, but many Ukrainians seem to have embraced the opportunity to go back and correct mistakes by replaying last month's disputed presidential election.

The outcome of Sunday's polls, in which pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko and Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich face off in an unprecedented third round, will measure how deeply Ukrainian political culture has been altered by a month of street protests, dramatic legal challenges, and world attention, experts say.

Apparent attempts to install Mr. Yanukovich in the presidency through fraud - and by allegedly poisoning Mr. Yushchenko - appear to have been thwarted by the peaceful uprising that became known as the "Orange Revolution," after the orange scarves and ribbons worn by Yushchenko supporters.

"It's too early to say whether the Orange Revolution has changed the way politics are done in Ukraine," says Jessica Alina-Pisano, a Ukraine expert at Colgate University in New York. "It created a new image of Ukraine in the world's eyes, and people who participated in the demonstrations report a new sense of empowerment. But the longer-term effects on the formal political process will depend on the outcome of Sunday's election."

Two weeks ago, Ukraine's Supreme Court ruled that the previous election cycle, which saw Yanukovich declared the winner, was tainted by fraud. They ordered a new vote for Dec. 26. This was followed by sweeping compromises in the Rada, Ukraine's parliament. The changes overhauled election laws to make them more tamper-resistant, reduced the constitutional powers of the presidency, and offered greater self-government to Russian influenced east Ukraine, which is pro-Yanukovich.

"The Orange Revolution has already settled some problems," says Pavel Erochkine, a Ukraine expert at the Center for Global Studies, a British think tank. "Such a regionally divided country should not have an all-powerful president, who inevitably pushes forward interests of one part of the country. This is why the recent constitutional reform that will transfer some of the president's powers to the Rada is good for Ukraine" in the long-run, he says.

The two candidates have campaigned for Sunday's court-ordered third round on very different terms than the previous round. In a televised debate earlier this week, Yushchenko looked and sounded like a president in waiting, while Yanukovich appeared almost to concede defeat by pleading - or warning - that it would be a mistake to forget about his stronghold regions in eastern Ukraine after the election. "You think, Viktor Andreyevich [Yushchenko], that you will win and become president of Ukraine," Yanukovich said. "You are making a huge mistake. You will be president of part of Ukraine."

An opinion survey conducted this week by the Kiev-based Razumkov Center, an independent polling agency, suggests that Yushchenko is ahead with 48 percent support among Ukraine's 30 million eligible voters, against Yanukovich's 39 percent.

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