Triumph of Defeat

The last chord was missing: already Barack Obama congratulated Viktor Yanukovych on his victory, and congratulated Nicolas Sarkozy, and Dmitry Medvedev too. Only Yulia Tymoshenko remained silent, while her headquarters continued to declare that they would not allow election fraud. There are no questions, for every stolen vote you have to sue - you can’t betray your supporters. Al Gore, who lost interest to George W. Bush, also sued. And somewhere he defended his voice. But that was only later, after Gore admitted his defeat, called his opponent and congratulated him on his victory. After there was a depression, many years of seclusion, such a successful political career was broken. One thing was missing - the reputation of a loser, unable to understand that losing is also an art. And in politics it is very important. Timoshenko obviously has yet to learn this.

Sobs about the defeat of the "orange revolution" are heard from all sides. But in vain. Its leaders were defeated, unable to control their ambitions. The revolution has just won. As a result of fair, transparent, democratic elections (which was confirmed by all observers - both from the East and from the West), the party in power in Ukraine lost and is leaving, and the opposition takes its place. Exactly this (© Adam Przeworski) is called modern democracy, for which the observance of the procedure, the rules of the game is an absolute value. The voices of the people are, of course, very important. But how they gather in conditions when the law is at a drawbar, the rules of the game are rewritten every Monday, and the transport of information - TV - goes exclusively in one direction - we know well in the Fatherland. Thank you, Ukraine does not need this. God forbid that it will not be needed further. Then, you see, after 2-3 electoral cycles, and the Independent, following the path of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, will enter the list of countries that are commonly called “consolidated democracies”, that is, those that are difficult to corrupt to such an extent that they will turn back.

Of course, 3% with kopecks is not the most reliable advantage: it allows you to question the legitimacy of the new president, especially in crisis situations, of which there will be many in Ukraine in the coming years.

Still, something else is important: for the first time in the CIS, the opposition came to power without any violence - street, government or virtual. There was no institution of succession - as in Russia in 2000, dictatorial suppression of dissenters or almost monarchical succession - as in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan. There was no blood - as in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. There were no revolutions either, as in the same Ukraine in 2004 or in Georgia in the times of its roses. There were also no ohlos demonstrations - a pogromist crowd, as in Moldova in the spring of 2009, after which the opposition came to power during early elections.

Ukraine went through the entire presidential campaign almost according to the textbook. Was there no romance? Did not have. Routine? Yes, routine. But elections in democratic countries should not become a shake-up of the foundations: it is good to go to the volcano with excursions, but not to live in its vicinity. The democratic swing began its movement: five and a half years ago they went to the West, today - a little to the East. Five years will pass, and if Yulia Tymoshenko manages to create a powerful opposition in the Rada and thereby prevent the presidential structures from usurping power and cripple the still shaky democratic institutions, this swing will begin to move in the opposite direction or freeze in the middle. If this “if” happens, then the Ukrainians will have to erect a monument to Viktor Yushchenko. It is to him that they should be grateful for the fact that they did not crush, did not use the administrative resource, did not let the Chekists go wild, did not subdue the media and, for that, allowed democracy to rise.