Ukrainian president shuns both candidates in final round of presidential election
By APWednesday, January 20, 2010
Ukraine pres: No support for either candidate
KIEV, Ukraine — Outgoing Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko says he will not support either candidate in the country’s presidential runoff.
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko led in the first round of the race on Sunday. They will go head-to-head in a runoff Feb. 7.
Yushchenko won just 5.5 percent of the vote and is out of the running.
He said Wednesday that both candidates are “alienated from democratic and European values.”
Yushchenko praised the election’s transparency, but said Ukraine “does not have a decent choice.”
Yushchenko led 2004’s pro-Western Orange Revolution, but his presidency has been marked by political skirmishes and economic problems.
Both candidates promise stronger ties with Russia.
