Christmas trees with glistening decorations are seen everywhere in downtown Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. People dressed like Santa Claus and Snow Maidens are cheerfully inviting pedestrians to take photos in the central Independence Square. Everything reminds you of the jolly big occasion: It is the Christmas Day.

Yet, there is something unusual this year. The tent village near the square, set up since the Nov. 21 presidential election runoff by supporters of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, and passersby wearing orange shawls -- symbol of the Yushchenko camp -- constantly remind you of an unfinished race.

It is the eve of the decisive repeat vote of the presidential runoff.

Everyone hopes the new poll would finally close the page on the month-long crisis sparked by the controversial November poll.

"All our Ukrainians are hoping for a successful presidential election," said Rodislav Leifer, a police officer on duty.

"We want the new president to put our country in order," he said, refusing to disclose whom he would vote for.

Others are more outspoken in their political allegiances. Alexander Maskolenko, a young cook, said he would vote for Yushchenko instead of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Maskolenko has stayed in the tent village since Nov. 23 to protest the previous vote results. Yanukovych was initially declared the winner but was later stripped of his victory by the Supreme Court after Yushchenko filed an appeal demanding invalidation of the vote, citing massive frauds.

Maskolenko said he would go back to vote in his hometown in western Ukraine and then return to Kiev to join a mass demonstration.

"Some 30,000 supporters of Yushchenko from other cities will gather here tomorrow," Maskolenko said.

Yushchenko has called on his supporters to come to the Independence Square on Sunday to stay "until our victory is celebrated."

Although Yushchenko declared victory in their fight for a revote, the stage they set up in the Independence Square -- the main venue of opposition rallies -- and some tents nearby have not been dismantled.

Maskolenko hopes that Yushchenko will fulfill all his campaign promises, not just half of them. "Otherwise, we will drive him out of office," he said.

Yanukovych's supporter are also easy to spot. A Kiev street vender, who declined to give his name, said he would vote for Yanukovych.

Natalya, a volunteer at Yanukovych's campaign headquarters in Donetsk, an eastern industrial city, said she supports the prime minister because he would pay more attention to the development ofthe east.

"I do not believe that Yushchenko would do so," she said.

Yanukovych protested the Supreme Court's decision to annul the November poll's results and called the opposition protests in central Kiev "an unconstitutional coup." But he eventually decided to take part in the rematch.

Ukraine was plunged into a turmoil after both candidates claimed victory in the Nov. 21 runoff. The two camps staged protests and called large rallies in major cities around the country, causing traffic jams and disrupting business.

Yushchenko's supporters surrounded government buildings in what they said the "orange revolution," virtually bringing the city to a standstill.

West-leaning Yushchenko draws strong support in western Ukrainian-speaking regions, a traditional stronghold of nationalism, while pro-Moscow Yanukovych enjoys backing mainly in heavily industrialized eastern and southern regions, where Russianis spoken. The disputed election drove a wedge between the regions with opposing allegiances and strained relations between Russia and Western countries.

In Kharkov, an eastern city bordering Russia, 36-year-old Liudmila said no matter which candidate wins the poll, the historical, religious and cultural ties between Ukraine and Russia cannot be cut.

Source: Xinhua