Ukraine held the first round of its fifth presidential election on Jan 17, in which Viktor Yanukovych, former prime minister and head of the Party of Regions, secured 35.32 percent of the votes. Yulia Tymoshenko, incumbent prime minister and leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", followed him with a quarter of the votes. In third place was Serhiy Tihipko, an independent candidate, who got 13.05 percent of the ballots.

Making up the rear was President Viktor Yushchenko, who managed to get only 5.45 percent of the votes. Since none of them could win an absolute majority, the top two candidates, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, will take part in a runoff on Feb 7.

The first round of the election shows Yushchenko's popularity has faded, as has his "Orange Revolution" that catapulted him to power in 2004. Orange Revolution supporters, naturally, had very high hopes from his government. But it failed to develop Ukraine's economy, improve people's livelihood and build a stable political environment.