Five and half years ago, Mr. Viktor Yanukovych was the villain in Ukraine. After "winning" presidential elections in 2004, disaffected voters took to the streets claiming fraud and hoping to reverse the results. One month of protests gave the world its first "color revolution" — the Orange Revolution, named after the campaign color of the eventual winner, Mr. Viktor Yushchenko.
This week, Mr. Yanukovych reclaimed the presidency, edging out Ms. Yulia Tymoshenko, the current prime minister and one of the prime movers behind the Orange protests. Ms. Tymoshenko is again protesting the results, but this time she is unlikely to prevail. And given the deep and abiding divisions in Ukraine, the surest route to the presidency may well be to concede this ballot and return to office on the tide of disaffection that is most likely to rise during Mr. Yanukovych's term.
It is tempting to see Mr. Yanukovych's victory as the undoing of the Orange Revolution. That is a nice narrative, but it has little correspondence with the facts. Mr. Yanukovych was seen as the handmaiden of Russian interests in 2004 and Mr. Yushchenko as his Western-leaning opponent. The fact that Mr. Yushchenko was thought to have been poisoned during the campaign contributed to the good vs. evil iconography of the election. Yet, Mr. Yanukovych also served as prime minister in 2006 and 2007.