Orange Revolution

The Orange Revolution (sometimes chestnut revolution because of the chestnut trees in Kiev) was a series of protests, demonstrations and planned, but failed general strike in Ukraine, organized by the supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. This was unsuccessful as a candidate of the opposition bloc Our Ukraine in the Ukrainian presidential elections of 2004 according to the official result of the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. From pro-Russian media and citizens, especially in the southern and eastern Ukraine, the revolution was evaluated as a coup or coup attempt.

The Orange Revolution and the results obtained at the break are also counted among the so-called color revolutions. When bloodless Orange Revolution of 2004, no persons died in contrast to the later protests of November 2013-2014 Euromaidan at that time.

Formation

The first ballot on 31 October 2004, neither Yushchenko nor Yanukovych as well as any of the 24 candidates could obtain an absolute majority of 50 percent. Viktor Yushchenko got 39.87 percent and Viktor Yanukovych was 39.32 percent of the vote. The official figures from the Electoral Commission was not considered by most citizens and election observers as credible.

The protests began on the day after the second round of voting on, after the run-off election between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition to candidate Yushchenko, than the officially estimated election results differed substantially from some so-called exit polls; one of the exit polls gave Yushchenko an elf -percent lead, while official results Yanukovych gave a lead of three percent. Although other exit polls and surveys code corresponded to the official election results, the circles around Yushchenko appealed exclusively to the more favorable for them survey, although they were also paid by Western countries and the USA. With the help of this exit poll claimed that Yushchenko supporters and a number of international observers (in particular the OSCE) election fraud in favor of a government-backed Yanukovych. Although other international observers, for example, of the twelve Member States of the EMO ( from the " Commonwealth of Independent States " ) and the BHHRG could also establish electoral violations, but none that seriously affected the election results because the violations compared to the valid votes are vanishingly and has been since rejected by both sides against the election laws.

Those exit poll results to which Yushchenko called, were extremely early - to the media, even during the counting - two days before the announcement of the official results. Others claimed that this was a normal procedure.

The supporters of Yanukovych claimed that the compounds of Yushchenko to Ukrainian media explain this difference; others argue that the opposite is true. Already on 22 November, more than 100,000 people came to the Maidan to protest against the obvious electoral fraud. As of November 23, 2004 began massive protests and demonstrations in some western cities of Ukraine, especially on Independence Square in Kiev, including in front of the Ukrainian parliament, the subscriber orange flags or towels or markings wore, the color of Yushchenko campaign. In addition to the color of the symbol of the Yushchenko - people is a clock, often represented ( as a pointer ) as a horseshoe (for the dial) with exclamation marks. Also on the posters of the Pora! often emerge watches, next to the orange color.

Kiev, Lviv and some other cities refused to confirm the legitimacy of the elections. After Yanukovych as the election winner had been confirmed officially, Yushchenko spoke to his supporters in Kiev, and moved them to perform an "Orange Revolution" of general strikes and blockades and sit-ins with the intention to block the government and force an election defeat known to give:

" To find a way to compromise means that the people demonstrate their will. It is the only way that will help us to resolve this conflict. Therefore, the Committee declared the national emergency, a nationwide political strike. "

After the week-long peaceful protest of Ukrainians in the "Orange Revolution " was the election result, as one of the claims reviewed.

Background

The Orange Revolution is based on a pattern that was first developed in Yugoslavia, to overthrow the government of Slobodan Milosevic, which was continued in the form of the so-called Rose Revolution in Georgia. Although these upheavals had spontaneously, they were results of an extensive underground activity, conspiracy and collaboration within opposition groups. Each coup was preceded by an election in which the pro-Western opposition lost, prompting demonstrations and other actions carried out. In all these processes student activists and academics made ​​a significant contribution, the Ukrainian Pora! consists almost entirely of students. The previously best-known opposition movement Otpor was a movement of young people and students who helped to bring the pro-western Vojislav Kostunica in Serbia to power. In Georgia in 2003, the analog movement Kmara was named. A far unsuccessful movement in Belarus called Zubr. She performed at the 2004 local elections in appearance. In Ukraine, the student movement Pora works! for the overthrow, it applies in the Ukrainian media and the security forces as a terrorist organization. Six Pora activists have been arrested in mid-November 2004 for suspicion of terrorism, because with them explosives, detonators and a grenade were found. The Pora, Western governments and the supporters of Yushchenko, however, keep the Pora not a terrorist organization.

The activists of these movements were trained in the tactics towards the outside of nonviolent resistance - by a coalition of professional western advisers, assistants and Pollster, financed and supported by a number of Western governments, agencies and organizations, for example by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and - according to the British newspaper The Guardian - by the " U.S. State Department " and USAID together with the " National Democratic Institute ", the " International Republican Institute ", the " Freedom House NGO" and the billionaire George Soros and his " Open Society institutions ". The German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, claiming, among other things, Yushchenko and his circle were from the USA alone more than 65 million U.S. dollars through various channels. U.S. goal is to expand in this way weaken NATO and the EU.

Yushchenko promised before the elections, moreover, that he would tear up the plan for a Euro-Asian economic area, he should win.

Follow

Due to the weeks of protest was achieved by the movement of the "Orange Revolution" and the opposition, which has been found the first ballot invalid. Yushchenko received the most votes in the repeat of the runoff election for the presidency on December 26, 2004.

The Supreme Court confirmed on 20 January 2005 officially the electoral victory of Yushchenko. As president and successor to Leonid Kuchma, Yushchenko was sworn in on January 23, 2005 in Kiev. Later, the new alliance, which had emerged from the "Orange Revolution " and its main characters, mainly Viktor Yushchenko and his Our Ukraine party and the Yulia Tymoshenko with her Blok Juliji Tymoshenko. Quarreled The cohesion between former oppositionists as well as the protest movement of the Orange Revolution itself, broke up after the failure of Yanukovych 2004/2005 and reaching the stated goals on.

The next presidential elections in 2010 won by in spite of all reservations in 2004 her opponent Viktor Yanukovych. Another consequence of the "Orange Revolution" the Constitution of Ukraine in 2004 was changed so that the powers of the President were limited and he was not allowed to appoint the prime minister himself, but only the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. In 2010, after Yanukovych's election victory, however, the Constitutional Court invalidated this change.

On November 21, 2013 demonstrations began again at the same place on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev, which led into the protest movement of the Euromaidan until the end of February 2014. The resulting renewed protests in November 2013 to end of February 2014 at the Maidan, previous oranges knüpften the demonstrators to the traditions of the ten years at revolution. Also by means of a broad-based, the protest movement gave to the current problems hearing. In addition, the previous ten years brought no tangible improvements for the majority of the population. Previously, President Yanukovych had refused to sign the planned association agreement with the EU and instead sought rapprochement with Russia. With the renewed protest movement 2013/14 finally the dismissal Yanukovych was reached and made new elections for May 2014 in view. It was also achieved in the course of Euromaidan Movement that the Ukrainian parliament approved the re-enactment of the old constitution of 2004 on 21 February 2014. The imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko came after a change in the law of parliament freely on February 22, 2014. Another consequence of the end of the Euromaidan riots is the resulting secondary Krimkrise 2014 with divisive tendencies of the Crimea as well as some South and ostukrainischer areas.