Klitchko brothers endorse Yushchenko, address appeal to Ukrainian compatriots
KYIV - World heavyweight boxing champions Vitalii and Volodymyr Klitschko on November 15 endorsed democratic opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's bid for the presidency of Ukraine. The run-off election is scheduled for Sunday, November 21.
Their appeal to fellow Ukrainians appeared on their website. Its full text follows.
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Dear Compatriots!
In this, Ukraine's fateful hour, we address our words to you not only as sports fans, but also as fellow citizens in an appeal to your civic conscience.
Today Ukraine is preparing for the second round in the presidential election. On November 21, you and your family, friends, neighbors and tens of millions of your fellow countrymen, whom you may not know by name or face, will go to polling stations to vote for our future.
November 21 is not just a day to elect the new president of Ukraine. It is a day of choice for Ukraine. It is a day to which our people have aspired for more than a thousand years: through Tatar-Mongolian invasions, through Polish-Lithuanian enslavement, through oppression of the monarchy and through the blood and hunger-stricken 20th century.
Put aside your affairs and go to the polling stations to cast your vote for the future of Ukraine - for Viktor Yushchenko!
We believe in victory!
- Vitalii and Volodymyr Klitschko
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 21, 2004, No. 47, Vol. LXXII
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