Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

Opposition leaders are warning that Yanukovych could try to influence the upcoming vote with tricks like ballot-stuffing and coercion (in 2004, his presidential bid was annulled after his campaign was found guilty of widespread vote rigging). But Yanukovych may not need the artificial support. His party has been gaining ground since parliamentary elections in 2007, when the crippling ineffectiveness of the Orange coalition began to take its toll at the polls, says Regina Smyth, an Indiana University professor who studies elections in post-communist states.

I'm skeptical about this short Newsweek blurb claiming that people are voting for stability or that Regions has been gaining ground since the 2007 Rada elections. If that were true why did Regions tailor a local election law that favors them, alter the coalition so that individual MPs could join it, and strengthen the presidency (through a court decision). This actions suggest the party fears it could lose support and wishes to create structural changes that would discourage a strong opposition from emerging.