KIEV, Ukraine – Polls opened in the second round of Ukraine's presidential elections Sunday, pitting two bitterly opposed candidates in a contest that some observers predict could be settled in the courts.
Ukraine's 37 million registered voters will choose between Russian-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came to international prominence in the 2004 pro-Western Orange protests.
For many voters, the two candidates represent a clear choice between bolstering ties with the West and repudiating the values of the Orange Revolution.
"I am voting against the return of our Soviet past," 40-year old businessman Vladimir Khivrenko said at a polling station near 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 protests, 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."
Yanukovych polled 10 percentage points ahead of Tymoshenko in the first round of voting on Jan. 17.
Analysts say the final vote will be closer, however, and expect both sides to resort to legal maneuvering and demonstrations if defeat looms.
Both sides 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.
Polls will close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT, 1 p.m. EST) and the results of exit polls will be released shortly afterward.
Source
