The parliamentary vote in Ukraine on Sunday was billed as a contest between the blues of the pro-Russia, old skool forces led by Victor Yanukovych, and the orange, pro-Western reformists led by Viktor Yushchenko -- with the followers of former Yushchenko ally Yulia Tymoshenko thrown in.

If one exit poll is correct, Yanukovych's team may have picked up 33 per cent of the popular vote. If true, that would take the piss out of the Orange Revolution.

An excerpt from the NYT story:

Nearly a year and a half after the protests and international pressure swept Mr. Yushchenko to the presidency, his party fell far behind not only the party of the man he beat for the top job, Viktor F. Yanukovich, but also the party of his former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, according to an independent survey of voters leaving the polls, announced by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, after voting ended at 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Mr. Yanukovich's Party of Regions, which the survey showed with 33 percent of the vote, was poised to win the largest bloc of seats in the 450-seat Parliament, but not enough to win control outright. Ms. Tymoshenko's bloc received 22 percent, while Mr. Yushchenko's party, Our Ukraine, trailed in a distant third place, with only 13 percent, according to the survey.

Mr. Yanukovich, the former prime minister whose supporters were accused of having rigged the presidential race against Mr. Yushchenko in November 2004, declared "a decisive victory," using the sort of language that rallied those against him and his patron, the former president, Leonid D. Kuchma. "Ukraine made its choice," he said. "Its choice is freedom, democracy, stability and confidence in the future."

Mr. Yanukovich's strength is less a reflection of his political successes than it is of the failings of Mr. Yushchenko, whose reputation at home has suffered from one problem after another despite his image abroad as a reform-minded democrat.

His inability to help improve the weak economy and lessen the country's reliance on Russian gas, which caused painful shortages this winter in a price dispute, deeply hurt him.

The election results set the stage for a period of political jockeying that could last for days or even weeks before a new government is formed. Much will depend on the success of an array of smaller parties that needed to win at least 3 percent of the vote to secure seats.

The voting was the first electoral test of the sweeping changes Mr. Yushchenko promised during the huge street protests that came to be known as the "Orange Revolution."

If the results of the voter survey hold, the election will underscore the disastrous turnaround in Mr. Yushchenko's political fate, leaving him forced to compromise.

At stake are Mr. Yushchenko's stated policy goals, including integrating Ukraine into the European Union and NATO. Mr. Yanukovich's party has promised to restore economic stability and forge closer ties with Russia.

Part of the deal to get wily old kleptocrat Leonid Kuchma to step down was to take away the presidential power to appoint a prime minister and to grant that power to Parliament.

Actually, Parliament will get to appoint most cabinet ministers except for foreign affairs and security.

Mr. Yushchenko might be well advised to send Ms. Tymoshenko some flowers. :)