Opposition candidate has become a legend in Ukraine

Knight Ridder Newspapers
Published Sunday, December 05, 2004

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Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko gestures during a mass rally in Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2004. Supporters of Yushchenko lost a round to their foes in parliament Saturday, when pro-government lawmakers helped block legal changes intended to prevent fraud in the Dec. 26 repeat of the country's presidential vote.

AP Photo KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko isn't just a presidential candidate these days in the Ukraine. He's a legend.

Supporters represent his name with three blasts of a car horn -- Yu-schchen-ko. Two-story banners show his face and a one-word slogan, Tak, meaning Yes.

"He is all things to all people," said Zoryana Ilenko, a western Ukrainian journalist who has covered the election. "As to what he would actually do once he becomes president, I do not think many people have considered this yet. They are happy, for now, with a myth."

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians celebrated on the streets for a second day Saturday after the Supreme Court tossed out the results of the Nov. 21 election that Yushchenko lost. The court declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych -- the candidate of current President Leonid Kuchma -- had stolen the election.

But a Yushchenko victory in an election on Dec. 26 will still require overcoming a system stacked against him.

For example, in a move seen as working against him, the Ukrainian parliament adjourned on Saturday for 10 days without passing campaign reforms intended to help prevent fraud.

One key problem is that Yushchenko will need a large presence of international monitors to help ensure fairness. Some volunteer observers from western Europe and North America might think twice, however, because they would have to give up their Christmas celebrations at home to travel to Ukraine. Some Ukrainians question whether Yushchenko's image is greater than reality.

"The truth is that the best thing about him, to millions of people, is that he isn't the other guy," said Evgen Rybka, editor of Tviy Vybir, a national political newspaper. "We have to take him for what he is, not what we want him to be."

Yushchenko was born in 1954 in a small town in northeastern Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. He studied economics at the Ternopil Financial and Economics Institute and worked as an accountant and banker in the old Soviet system. After Ukrainian independence (in 1991), he moved to the Ukrainian Central Bank, eventually leading it for six years. His goal: fight inflation. He left the bank to become prime minister in 1999.

Even critics agree that his accomplishments were significant. But they were the stuff of policy wonks rather than legends. He introduced a professional style of decision-making: sending policy through committee for debate and refinement before coming up for approval.

He moved the energy and agricultural production markets off of a barter system and onto a cash economy. That gave money to producers, who then invested in their operations and increased production. Previously, the country had relied on imported foods. Now, almost all food is local.

Yushchenko as prime minister did not criticize Kuchma, who was president. He was even loyal after being removed from the prime minister's job in 2001.

Kuchma policy tended to benefit powerful allies, a group of oligarchs who had become Ukraine's super-rich by taking formerly national industries private. Kuchma's inner circle is known simply as "The Power."

Yushchenko wasn't seen to stand up to The Power until the last parliamentary elections, when he formed the "Our Ukraine" (Nasha Ukraina) coalition of 10 political parties. It won 23 percent of the votes and became the largest voting block in the government.

In July, he became a presidential candidate and began to deliver such lines as "Ukraine lacks a healthy, pure and transparent public political process." He talked of changes he wanted for Ukraine, such as membership in the European Union and a free press.

He was instantly popular, but it took a bout with death to make him a star.

Yushchenko got sick in September. He thought it was food poisoning. The illness worsened, and he sought treatment in Vienna. Doctors could find no reason for his illness. They could neither prove he was poisoned nor rule it out.

He got better and returned to the campaign.

"My problems were caused by The Power ... by a politically motivated assassination," he told parliament. "I want to know the names of the assassins. But even without an investigation, the answer is simple -- this killer is the regime. I survived because my guardian angels were not asleep. Every one of you is next."

The experience transformed Yushchenko in the eyes of many voters from a man calling for policy changes to one crying for freedom as oppressors tried to kill him.