President of Ukraine - Ukrainian Presidential Election, 2004

Ukrainian Presidential Election, 2004

The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was conducted in late 2004 and was contested between then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and former Prime Minister and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. The final stages of the election were conducted amidst allegations of media bias, voter intimidation and the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko that was later confirmed to be the result of the poison dioxin.

The first round of voting was held on October 31, 2004 and finished at a near-draw: official figures gave Yanukovych 39.32% and Yushchenko 39.87% of the votes cast. As no candidate reached the 50 percent constitutional margin required for outright victory, a runoff election was scheduled on November 21. Although a 75 percent voter turnout was recorded in the initial vote, observers reported many irregularities, particularly in the regions where Yushchenko's support was seen to be strongest.

According to the official Central Election Commission results announced on November 23, the run-off election was won by Yanukovych with 49.46 percent of the vote to Yushchenko's 46.61 percent, but Yushchenko and his supporters, as well as many international observers, denounced the election as rigged and highly falsified. Their denouncement and subsequent non-recognition of the vote led to a political crisis where widespread peaceful protests, dubbed the "Orange Revolution," eventually led to the Ukrainian Supreme Court annulling the run-off vote's results and ordering a repeat of the second round.

The repeat vote was conducted on December 26. Observers reported a much fairer vote; Viktor Yushchenko won the Presidency with 51.99 percent of the vote, to Yanukovych's 44.2 percent. Yushchenko was eventually declared the winner on January 10, 2005 after the failure of a legal action brought by Yanukovych. Viktor Yushcenko was sworn in as the third President of Ukraine on January 23, 2005.