Change of power

Viktor Yanukovych's victory in the second round of Ukraine's presidential elections looks like a devastating verdict on the "Orange Revolution" and on the five-year presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, once Ukraine's shooting political star.

There can be no doubt that Yushchenko has disappointed Ukrainians' high hopes of five years ago: his poor performance in the first round of the presidential elections eloquently displayed that the "orange president" failed miserably in most political areas.

Admittedly, his pro-European and anti-Russian policies failed, at least in part, because European politicians didn't have the courage to grant Ukraine a genuine prospect of entry into the EU.

But Yushchenko's failure can be linked primarily to his lack of success tackling necessary internal reforms. In many senses, his five-year presidency seems to have been an era of missed chances.

However, it's not just the glorious start of his presidency - the "Orange Revolution" - that deserves a prominent place in Ukrainian history: The end merits one as well.

There's no clearer sign that Ukraine has become a healthy democracy than the fact that the incumbent president dropped out of the election race in the first round, while the opposition candidate was peacefully elected president, without Yushchenko using those "administrative resources" that are so commonly employed in former Soviet regions in a bid to cling to power.

That's just the kind of system that the "Orange Revolution" was striving for - and it's not just his successor Viktor Janukovych who's now responsible to uphold it.

But Yushchenko's biggest achievement lies in sending another signal to Russia and other post-Soviet states. For these countries are yet to pass that most fundamental test of democracy, namely disposing of an incumbent leader and helping an opposition candidate into power by entirely peaceful means.

Of course many people in Russia, and elsewhere, talk about democracy, rule of law and fighting corruption, but only the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has actively shown the world what this really means in practice.

Author: Ingo Mannteufel / msh

Editor: Toma Tasovac