An American Lion

Yulia Tymoshenko

This just means that she’ll have to work harder if she wants to rule over the Ukraine:

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich won Sunday’s election for president, exit polls said, but likely challenges to results from defeated candidate Yulia Tymoshenko could paralyze the beleaguered country for weeks.

If confirmed, a Yanukovich victory could prompt legal challenges and street protests from Tymoshenko and delay Ukraine’s chances of repaying over $100 billion of foreign debt and nursing its sickly economy back to health after a 15 percent collapse last year.

Yanukovich, 59, a beefy ex-mechanic who wants better ties with Moscow, staged a remarkable comeback from a former election disgrace to lead Sunday’s runoff vote with 49.8 percent, according to pollsters ICTV.

Never bet against Yulia. In some form, she will be a player in Ukrainian politics for the next generation.