Yushchenko triumphant at the victory of orange revolution

Viktor Yanukovich stated that he was ready to regretfully congratulate his rival

The re-run of the presidential election in Ukraine has not changed the situation in the country: Ukrainians' political preferences differ depending on the regions, where the voting took place.

Viktor Yushchenko still enjoys people's support in Ukraine's western areas, where he received 92.7 percent of votes, whereas the candidate got only 12 percent in eastern regions.

Ukraine's east still votes for Viktor Yanukovich – 85 percent of respondents said that they had voted for him, as opposed to only six percent of Ukrainians, who supported Yanukovich in the west of Ukraine.

Viktor Yanukovich is not going to acknowledge results of the exit polls, which say that the victory belongs to Yushchenko. When polls were closed in Ukraine nationwide on Sunday night, Yanukovich released an adequate statement for the press: “These techniques come from abroad, as well as the money, which funded the orange coup,” said he.

Yanukovich believes that there was a foreign interference in the Ukrainian presidential election. “I do not only believe so, I continuingly emphasize that there is a fact of foreign interference in the internal matters of Ukraine. Law-enforcement agencies should deal with it,” the candidate was quoted as saying.

The Ukrainian opposition, meanwhile, started celebrating its victory yesterday. Viktor Yushchenko declared his victory at about 3 a.m. Moscow time and went to share the joy with his followers in Kiev's Independence Square. Yushchenko called upon the people not to leave the square, but to stay some more time there: “We need to protect our victory,” said he to the crowd.

Yushchenko congratulated the people on the completion of the Kuchma-Yanukovich era. “This is a unique, clear political victory. This is an elegant victory, when the people proved its strength. The nation has voted against one of the most cynical regimes in the east of Europe,” Yushchenko said.

Viktor Yanukovich stated later that he was ready to regretfully congratulate his rival. He stated that he would establish a political opposition, which would require a special law about the opposition in Ukraine. Spokespeople for Yanukovich's headquarters say that thousands of violations have been registered during the election process.