Enough votes now?

Looks like it was a matter of poor "get out the vote" efforts and vote counting. According to this article--Kyiv Post. Yushchenko to resubmit Yekhanurov; rejects Tymoshenko�s offer--they've got the votes now.

[Yuschenko spokewoman, Irina Gerashchenko] said Yushchenko believes Yekhanurov, whose candidacy was rejected Sept. 20, now has the necessary backing to win the 226 votes he needs.

Yushchenko's decision came after a four-hour meeting with parliamentary faction leaders, which also included Tymoshenko and last year's losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, whose party had abstained from the Sept. 20 vote. Tymoshenko had proposed earlier in the day that Yushchenko form an alliance with her that would give her back the prime minister's job.

Petro Symonenko, the leader of the Communist Party, told Ukraine's Channel 5 that Yushchenko hadn't convinced any new factions to support Yekhanurov, but would pick up votes from some groups whose members had split during the Sept. 20 ballot.

They have to learn what Morgan Williams, editor of the Action Ukraine Report, says the experts were saying in Washington yesterday: A non vote is better than a no vote. A no vote is a defeat and a defeat is not a good thing. It means weakness and in politics when weakness is sensed, the politicos gather for a piece of the hide. Makes negotiations tough. "Why give up something when I can wait for the demise and take it myself?"