(AP) – More than half of Ukrainians believe that President Viktor Yushchenko and his government have failed to live up to the promises of the Orange Revolution, according to a poll released Nov. 17.
In the nationwide survey of 1,993 people by Kyiv’s Razumkov center, 37.5 percent of respondents said Yushchenko’s team had fulfilled no promises at all, and 20.6 percent said the government acted contrary to its slogans from the Orange Revolution.
Nov. 22 marks the first anniversary of the mass protests over election fraud that came to be known as the Orange Revolution and helped usher Yushchenko into power.
During the protests, Yushchenko and his team pledged to combat corruption, restore trust in the government, improve living standards and win European Union membership for this nation of 47 million.
But his popularity has been dented by stalled reforms, a corruption scandal involving some of his closest aides, infighting in his administration and a slowing economy. The country has yet to receive any real movement on its EU membership.
The poll taken between Nov. 3-13 had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
Of those polled, only 14.3 percent said they support Yushchenko, down from 46.7 percent in February, a month after Yushchenko became Ukraine’s third president since 1991 independence. Nearly 60 percent of Ukrainians believe the country is on a wrong path, while 18.3 said it was on the right path, the poll found.
The survey also showed how weak Yushchenko’s position is ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in March. The poll found that Ukrainians would be more likely to vote for the parties headed by losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych than Yushchenko’s team if parliamentary elections were held this week.
