05-25-2014, 05:13 PM
UKRAINE GETS A NEW PRESIDENT?
![[Image: big.jpg]](http://www.kyivpost.com/media/images/2014/03/29/p18k6ipt1n1dc51om2qot3t51r9o4/big.jpg)
Exit polls suggested candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko won Ukraine's presidential election in the first round Sunday, a ballot that took place amid weeks of fighting in eastern regions where pro-Russia separatists have seized government buildings and battled government troops.
The rebels had vowed to block the ballot in the east and less than 20 percent of the polling stations were open there. But nationwide, about 60 percent of the electorate turned out, the central elections commission said.
Poroshenko, viewing the exit polls as definitive evidence of victory, said his first steps as president would be to visit the eastern industrial region of Donbass — home to Ukraine's coal mines — and "put an end to war, chaos, crime and bring peace to the Ukrainian land."
Long lines of voters snaked around polling stations in Kiev, the pro-Western capital, but heavily armed pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine intimidated locals by smashing ballot boxes, shutting down polling centers and issuing threats.
The exit poll for Sunday's election, conducted by three respected Ukrainian survey agencies, found the 48-year-old candy tycoon Poroshenko getting 55.9 percent of the vote.
Poroshenko ducked the question whether he was prepared to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin but said Kiev would like to negotiate a new security treaty with Moscow.
At a distant second was former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko with 12.9 percent, the poll showed. Full results are expected Monday in the election that authorities in Kiev hope will be a critical step toward resolving Ukraine's protracted crisis.
Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/25...89434.html
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Poroshenko has his work cut out for him -- hell of a situation under which to assume leadership of the country. I hope he's successful in achieving his goals and stabilizing the country.
He may have publicly ducked the question as to whether he'll work with Putin, but realistically, he certainly knows that's a job requirement and there's really no way he can represent the whole of Ukraine without effectively doing so, IMO.
Exit polls suggested candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko won Ukraine's presidential election in the first round Sunday, a ballot that took place amid weeks of fighting in eastern regions where pro-Russia separatists have seized government buildings and battled government troops.
The rebels had vowed to block the ballot in the east and less than 20 percent of the polling stations were open there. But nationwide, about 60 percent of the electorate turned out, the central elections commission said.
Poroshenko, viewing the exit polls as definitive evidence of victory, said his first steps as president would be to visit the eastern industrial region of Donbass — home to Ukraine's coal mines — and "put an end to war, chaos, crime and bring peace to the Ukrainian land."
Long lines of voters snaked around polling stations in Kiev, the pro-Western capital, but heavily armed pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine intimidated locals by smashing ballot boxes, shutting down polling centers and issuing threats.
The exit poll for Sunday's election, conducted by three respected Ukrainian survey agencies, found the 48-year-old candy tycoon Poroshenko getting 55.9 percent of the vote.
Poroshenko ducked the question whether he was prepared to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin but said Kiev would like to negotiate a new security treaty with Moscow.
At a distant second was former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko with 12.9 percent, the poll showed. Full results are expected Monday in the election that authorities in Kiev hope will be a critical step toward resolving Ukraine's protracted crisis.
Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/25...89434.html
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Poroshenko has his work cut out for him -- hell of a situation under which to assume leadership of the country. I hope he's successful in achieving his goals and stabilizing the country.
He may have publicly ducked the question as to whether he'll work with Putin, but realistically, he certainly knows that's a job requirement and there's really no way he can represent the whole of Ukraine without effectively doing so, IMO.