Yulia Tymoshenko was a candidate in the Ukraine presidential elections of 2010. During the first round of voting, Tymoshenko gained approximately 25% of the votes, which put her in second place, behind Viktor Yanukovych. The two candidates progressed to a runoff election, results of which are yet to be officially declared. Tymoshenko is challenging the election results and has stated that the vote was rigged with more than 1 million votes that were falsified or miscounted. On February 17, Administrative Court of Ukraine suspended the results of the election on her appeal. The court suspended the Central Election Commission of Ukraine ruling that announced that Viktor Yanukovych won the election. Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal on February 20, 2010.
“In an interview with The Daily Telegraph before the vote, Hrihoriy Nemyria, a deputy prime minister and ally of Mrs Tymoshenko, warned that a victory for Mr Yanukovych would be a disaster for Ukraine, a strategically crucial gas-transit country sandwiched between Russia and the European Union. “He does not accept the bedrock principle of democracy,” he said.
“Whatever the rhetoric he uses, his policies are about freezing Ukraine in a grey zone between Russia and the EU. He is not a moderniser.”
