KIEV, UKRAINE - The apparent victory of Russia's preferred candidate in the Ukrainian presidential race may be a relief to Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to discredit his neighbor's raucous democracy and its drift to the West.
But it comes with a catch: The election won by the candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, was highly competitive, unpredictable and relatively fair -- just the kind of major contest that has not been held in Russia since Putin, the prime minister, consolidated power.
On Monday, for example, European election monitors praised Sunday's election, calling it an "impressive display" of democracy.
Ukraine's election, in other words, did not follow the Kremlin blueprint and, if anything, seemed to highlight the flaws in the system in Russia. As such, it presented a kind of alternative model for the former Soviet Union.
The official tally released Monday showed that Yanukovich, the opposition leader, defeated Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by 3 percentage points -- 48.7 to 45.7 percent -- giving him a comeback from his loss in the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Tymoshenko helped spearhead the Orange Revolution, which first brought Western-style democracy to Ukraine.
While her defeat might indicate a rejection of the revolution, the fact that the country carried out a contentious presidential election that was widely considered fair suggests that the Orange legacy has endured.
Olexiy Haran, professor of comparative politics at Kiev Mohyla University, said that many Ukrainians were disappointed in the Orange Revolution, given the political tumult of recent years, but they nonetheless appreciate what it has sown.
