There can be little doubting the outcome of Ukraine's rerun presidential election. International agencies and observers and activists from both sides yesterday said it was free and fair. In a turnout of 75 per cent Mr Viktor Yushchenko defeated Mr Viktor Yanukovich by a strong margin of 52 to 44 per cent, according to the latest official figures. Although Mr Yunukovich is to challenge the result, few doubt that he will lose and is reconciled to forming a strong opposition.
Given the creative compromises reached when the rerun was declared earlier this month, there is a good prospect that Ukraine can weather this political crisis and emerge more strongly from it.
That would be a major achievement for this young democracy of 48 million people. When the crisis erupted late last month in a series of mass mobilisations protesting against electoral fraud there was widespread speculation internationally that the country could split between the eastern provinces supporting Mr Yanukovich whose identity relates closely to Russia and the western ones seeking closer relations with Europe. In fact Ukraine's political identity is more complex than that. Despite its historical and cultural cleavages it has faced both ways, necessarily so given its mixtures of people and experience.
In a series of decisions taken after the supreme court declared Mr Yanukovich's victory in the first presidential election invalid, Ukraine's parliament transferred powers from the president to the prime minister and agreed to devolve some powers from central government to regional provinces. Both candidates hinted they might be willing to work a system of power-sharing in a new constitutional framework. Short of that they appeared willing to compromise with each other programmatically and, above all, to settle their differences legally and not by force. While much work remains to put these compromises into practice, it looks as if this is now possible.
Such an outcome is likely to see Mr Yushchenko tackle corruption (including among his own supporters), facilitating foreign investment in Ukraine, strengthening legal and media freedoms and agreeing not to reverse welfare concessions made by his opponent to industrial workers in the eastern provinces. Mr Yushchenko is pledged to seek closer relations with the European Union, and deserves a generous response from Brussels. He would be well advised to be more cautious in developing closer relations with NATO, given the provocative response to any such prospect from Russia.
European leaders and citizens have gone through a rapid learning process about Ukraine. This political crisis clearly exposes the geopolitical stakes involved - for the EU, Russia and the United States as well as for its own people. So far it has been handled with considerable sensitivity given the interests at stake, preserving Ukraine's political sovereignty and national integrity. The country's new leadership is entitled to continuing goodwill as it comes to terms with this welcome result.