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Opposition leader yushchenko sworn as ukrainian president Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a1pCBdRE0zZE&refer=europehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a1pCBdRE0zZE&refer=europe
Viktor Yushchenko Sworn in as Ukrainian President (Update1)
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as Ukraine's third president since the collapse of the Soviet Union after having overcome an assassination attempt and a two-month standoff over disputed election results.
Yushchenko, who has said he aims to strengthen ties with the West and fight corruption at home, was inaugurated in the Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, in the capital Kiev about 12:30 p.m. today before members of parliament and foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The 50-year-old father of five took the oath of office with his right hand touching a 500-year-old bible written in old Slavonic. His family, including U.S.-born wife, looked on from inside the parliament.
``The transfer of power has taken place,'' Yushchenko said in remarks to the hall after taking the oath. ``This is a big national victory for our people. We have one goal: a wealthy and democratic Ukraine.''
More than 100,000 people watched the inauguration from TV screens set up in Kiev's Independent Square, state television said. The square was where Yushchenko rallied supporters to cancel the outcome of the fraud-ridden Nov. 26 presidential election that had given victory to former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Prime Minister
Ukraine, located between the European Union and Russia, delivers most of Russia's exported gas to Western Europe. The nation of 47 million citizens is also the world's seventh-largest steel producer and one of the six largest grain and fertilizer exporters.
Yushchenko's domestic priorities are to appoint a new prime minister and cabinet and cool the passions that divided the Ukrainian-speaking west and center of the country, from where he draws his main support, from the industrial and Russian-speaking east and south that backed Yanukovych.
Candidates for the prime minister's post, cited by Ukrainian media, include: Yulia Timoshenko, 44, a former deputy prime minister and billionaire businesswoman; Petro Poroshenko, 39, a member of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine parliamentary alliance; former Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh, 50, head of Ukraine's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; and Oleksandr Moroz, 60, founder of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and a former parliament speaker.
Corruption
Yushchenko, who ran the nation's central bank from January 1993 to December 1999, overseeing the introduction of a new currency and the creation of the state treasury, replaces outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, 66, whose decade-long rule was marred by allegations of corruption and human rights abuses.
Ukraine was ranked 122nd out of 145 countries last year in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. Kuchma, a former engineer, became president in 1994, replacing Leonid Kravchuk, the nation's first post-Soviet leader. Ukrainian presidents serve five-year terms.
Yushchenko, who was nearly killed at the start of the election campaign in September by dioxin poison that has disfigured his face, defeated Yanukovych, 53, in a rerun of the second-round of presidential elections on Dec. 26, gathering 51.99 percent of the vote compared with Yanukovych's 44.2 percent. Yanukovych was handpicked by Kuchma to be his successor.
Contested Vote
A Nov. 21 election giving Yanukovych a majority of the votes was overturned by the nation's Supreme Court, which said the election was riddled with fraud. The court's Dec. 3 decision was preceded protests at Kiev's Independence Square, where as many as a hundred thousand Yushchenko supporters gathered, some setting up camps in the city's main street.
City workers labored past midnight to clear up the about 20 tents, some as long as 10 meters, still remaining on the city's main street to prepare for today's inauguration. The tent inhabitants huddled around fires they made to keep warm in the below freezing temperature.
A few dozen supporters of Yanukovych from eastern Ukraine gathered off of Khreshchatik, the main street of the city, last night and debated Yushchenko advocates, saying a Yushchenko presidency will hurt economic relations with Russia. Nearby street vendors sold orange hats and scarves for 35 hryvna ($6.60). Orange was the color of Yushchenko's campaign.
Schedule
Ukraine's new head of state will make his first trip abroad tomorrow, heading for Moscow to keep a campaign promise to visit Russia before any other country. Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Yanukovych, who advocated closer ties with the nation.
Yushchenko on Jan. 24 will be in Strasbourg to address the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, according to his Web site.
After that, he will to Poland, to attend the Jan. 27 commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, at which other world leaders including U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will be present, according to Yushchenko's Web site.
Also on Jan. 27, Yushchenko will go to Brussels to address the European Parliament. On the following two days, he will take part in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Last Updated: January 23, 2005 07:02 EST
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