WEEKLY WHINE

Vote for the fraud

Last week the Supreme Court of the Ukraine annulled the result of the runoff between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych. There will now be another presidential election by SUN 26 DEC 2004. Needless to say, there's quite a bit of animosity between those who voted for one Viktor and those who voted for the other Viktor.

Yanukovych won the runoff the first time around. But according to the court, there were several violations during the first runoff. So the court said, in effect, "Do it again. And get it right this time." Of course, it doesn't help matters that the current government, the one responsible for organising the elections, happens to have Yanukovych as the prime minister.

But how do you in Cyberland feel about all this? We only have one way to find out, of course, and that's to break into the GoobNet Mailbox. We try not to do that too often, because whenever we do, we tend to feel lightheaded and woozy for a few days. And after that we find ourselves muttering to ourselves, "They didn't really say that, did they?"

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What's the difference between the candidates, anyway? - Marcia Jackson, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Well, Yanukovych, as we mentioned, is the current prime minister. He hails from Yenakiyevo in eastern Ukraine, an area that speaks Russian primarily. He was the governor of Donetsk and helped fight corruption in the region, although many observers have likened his approach to the power crazed government officials of the Soviet era.

Yushchenko was himself once prime minister. Although he comes from the country's northeast, he speaks Ukrainian like the western portion of the country. After independence, he led the national bank and played a key role in stabilising the hryvnya, the new currency. Curiously, president Leonid Kuchma had originally wanted Yushchenko to succeed him, but the two have now gone their separate ways. Kuchma now supports Yanukovych, and Yushchenko has the backing of the Our Ukraine left wing bloc.

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So why does it matter who rules the Ukraine? - Herb Anukwo, Lusaka, Zambia

The Ukraine lies right between Central Europe and Russia, both politically and geographically. It's had strong relations with Russia ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it's also interested in joining the EU. The outcome of this election will make a large impact on the direction that the nation goes in the near term: Yanukovych will presumably move the country closer to Russia, Yushchenko closer to Europe.

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How come everybody in the opposition wears orange? - Ricardo Borgazzi, Napoli, Italy

What's wrong with orange? Have you got something against orange?

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No, I just wanted to know. I mean, why orange in particular? - Ricardo Borgazzi, Napoli, Italy

I don't know. Just because, I guess.

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What was wrong with the first election? - George Patreaux, Bordeaux, France

The International Election Observation Mission, a group sent by various European bodies, reported several problems. The state media displayed "overt bias" in favour of Yanukovych, for instance. The group reported that at polling places, there were police officers or other unauthorised people interfering. Two regions - Donetsk [96.3%] and Lugansk [88.4%] - reported suspiciously high turnout levels. These regions are both in the East, as it happens. Finally, when ballots were counted, there were again unauthorised people involved, and security was lacking.

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Is there a possibility that people just got confused and voted for the wrong person? Their names are pretty similar. - Vana Ulychev, St Petersburg, Russia

Sure, why not.

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So is there any chance of the US's election being overturned? - John Kerry, Boston, MA, USA

You wish.

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Ha ha! I'm the winner! I'm gonna ban gay civil unions now! - George W Bush, Washington, DC, USA

Shut up.