Milestones for Ukraine

Ukrainian outrage and international monitors helped voters hand Viktor Yushchenko a deserved victory in Sunday’s presidential election, a triumph for democracy as well as an individual. But the bitter campaign intensified divisions within the country, presenting the pro-Western Yushchenko with a tough job of reconciliation.

Independent observers and exit polls concluded that Yushchenko won last month’s presidential runoff over Viktor Yanukovich, but the government of lame-duck President Leonid D. Kuchma declared Yanukovich the winner. Massive demonstrations in Kiev and protests by the United States and Europe supported Yushchenko’s appeal to the Supreme Court, which ruled that officials had padded Yanukovich’s vote count. Yuschenko’s supporters braved bitter cold and icy streets to support the “orange revolution.”

Much of Yushchenko’s support comes from the western part of the country, and he has promised closer ties with neighboring Poland and other NATO countries. But eastern Ukraine, where Yanukovich was strong, looks toward Russia, Ukraine’s former ruler and the source of much of its fuel. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin supported Yanukovich, campaigned for him and accused Western nations of meddling in Ukrainian affairs when they pointed out the Soviet-style rigging of the election. Yushchenko wisely said his first trip outside the country would be to Moscow. He isn’t a stranger there; he was prime minister under Kuchma from 1999 to 2001, before Yanukovich succeeded him.

Ukrainians deserve credit for keeping the protests peaceful. Parliament did its part in easing tensions when it approved a compromise package of laws three weeks ago to strengthen safeguards against election fraud and to weaken presidential powers.

The shooting death on Monday of the country’s transportation minister, possibly a suicide, added another bizarre twist to an election campaign already roiled by allegations that Yushchenko was poisoned by the opposition. The best course for the country would be for Kuchma and Yanukovich to urge supporters to accept the results and celebrate them as advances in Ukraine’s transition from Soviet satellite to independent democracy. It will require more than one election to achieve that goal, but the independence of the Supreme Court and the acceptance of an honest ballot by Yanukovich’s Russia and Ukrainian supporters represent important milestones.