So today Viktor Yanukovych was sworn in as the fourth president of Ukraine, after having won a low-turn out but free and fair presidential election, just six years after having attempted electoral fraud to gain the nation’s highest office.  Although Yulia Tymoshenko has withdrawn her legal challenges to the election, she still hasn’t publicly acknowledged her recognition of the new president, and left the Rada only half-filled with representatives to hear the inauguration speech (show me an inauguration ceremony where the new president gets to hold up a scepter and wear a huge gold necklace, and I’d want to be there…).

President Yanukovych gave a short, terse, and “unemotional” speech, remarking “Ukraine is in an utterly difficult situation, given the absence of a state budget, colossal foreign borrowing and people’s poverty. (…) We need to renew the system of effective governance and restore a functional government. I call on the parliament to support my efforts and to work in a synchronized regime with the president.“