Kuchma's Allies Seek a New Candidate

In a dramatic shift, the political and business elites close to outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma are changing horses in midstream and looking for a new candidate to take on opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in what they hope will be an entirely new election.

The elites that previously backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Kuchma's original choice, now appear to have dumped him and drawn up a shortlist of three Kuchma loyalists to take his place on the ballot.

Analysts have named Serhiy Tyhypko, Yanukovych's campaign manager, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Volodymyr Yatsuba and Odessa Governor Serhiy Grynevetsky as the candidates Kuchma's inner circle is thinking about.

"The authorities now understand that Yanukovych has no chance to win a new vote," said Volodymyr Polokhalo, an analyst at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. "They are driven by cynical pragmatism -- and are sacrificing their leader to defend their own political and economic interests."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/02/002.html

"The authorities now understand that Yanukovych has no chance to win a new vote," said Volodymyr Polokhalo, an analyst at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. "They are driven by cynical pragmatism -- and are sacrificing their leader to defend their own political and economic interests."

Isn't that uh, democracy at work?

Seriously.