Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych flunked a big test by failing to ensure that the first elections that took place under his watch were fair and democratic.

These 15,000 nationwide contests on Oct. 31 matter greatly, as the local government officials chosen wield great powers over how state budget money is spent and how land is allocated, among other duties.

Yanukovych, still hobbled by his complicity in fraudulent elections during the era of ex-President Leonid Kuchma, had a chance to show he is a democratic leader. Instead, the president showed he’s the same old conniver unworthy of leading a great nation of 46 million people.

As this edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, neither the Central Election Commission nor any other state body had posted anything close to official results of the Oct. 31 election in a way that the public, observers and oppositionists could see and use to judge the vote’s fairness.

How the final official results are reported on Nov. 5 could provide another sign of a fraudulent election.

There is no way to know the vote count was honest unless the public has access to all the figures – the official protocols – that went into the final tally."

The results should have been reported as soon as the commission received them from precincts.

In the end, they need to be reported, polling station by polling station, and not simply by aggregate total for each constituency.

Why? The answer is there is no way to know the vote count was honest unless the public has access to all the figures – the official protocols – that went into the final tally.

But the vote count is just the important final stop in what was a badly flawed, undemocratic and unfair election.

These were not simply mistakes by well-intentioned government officials. These flaws were by design, in our opinion. Why do we say that?

The administration and its loyal media took pains to ignore and hide the findings of well-respected, professional observers such as the OPORA civic organization.

For the most part, an increasingly supine Ukrainian news media were all too eager to accept the administration’s spin.

These elections were troubled from the very start.

It would be a bitter irony for this nation if the last election generally accepted as fair and democratic was the Feb. 7 one in which [Viktor] Yanukovych came to power."

First scheduled in May, postponed to October, they took place under an undemocratic election law that was hastily amended and approved by Yanukovych’s ruling parliamentary coalition this summer.

Elections commissions were stacked with supporters of the president’s Party of Regions.

Numerous problems took place during the campaign and on voting day, and are likely to continue through the final vote tally and appeals.

It would be a bitter irony for this nation if the last election generally accepted as fair and democratic was the Feb. 7 one in which Yanukovych came to power.