Hi everyone,
it's Jens again! It's been a while since you've heard from me, isn't it? We're
already in the eighth week of our trip, and this time we're in Ukraine. So
we're "Back in the USSR", like one of my favourite musicians of all time
sang with his Beatles-friends.
And when
you're in a former Sovjet country, it's always guessing how politics and
economy will be over there. So, this time it's the Ukraine's turn.
Like in a
lot of eastern countries, results of elections are most of the time very
contested, because of corruption, or at least supposedly corrupted results. In
2004, the elections leaded to the Orange Revolution. This was a series of
protests and political events in the country, just after the 2004 presidential
election. There was a series of civil disobedience, sit-ins and general strikes
organized by the opposition movement. The actions leaded to re-elections, and
they were won by the competitor who lost the first elections. This of course
ended the protests.
The country
now is leaded by Victor Yanukovych, who was Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2002
until 2005, and from 2006 until 2007. He's an independent politician, so he's
not involved in any political party. In the past, he used to be part of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The
communist link brings us to the economy of the country. The economy is an
emerging, free market. They've grown rapidly from 2000 until 2008, and are now
growing again, after being greatly affected by the economic crisis of 2008.
Like in most
former Sovjet countries, there's a lot of poverty in the Ukraine. 35 % of
the people are living below the poverty line. And that kind of shows when
you're visiting the country. You can see that most people in Ukraine aren't
very rich.
Anyway, I
got to leave you! Heave a nice day and see you soon, from another country!
Jens
http://ukrainetrek.com/images/ukraine-political-system-parliament-rada-photo.jpg
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