Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko

Four years ago, something terrible happened to Viktor Yushchenko while he was running for president of Ukraine. His face became horribly disfigured. Doctors determined he was poisoned by dioxin. At lot’s happened since then. Ukraine went through the ‘Orange Revolution’ and Yushchenko went on to become president. These days he face looks less damaged. Now it’s his political health that’s suffering. The World’s Jason Margolis reports from Ukraine.

2004 "Orange Revolution"

Margolis: If a president is the symbol of a country, what does Viktor Yushchenko’s appearance say about Ukraine? When Yushchenko ran for president four years ago his good looks were an asset, says Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, a professor of sociology at Kiev’s Mohyla Academy.

Vynnytskyi: “I’m not a judge of men, but he was a commanding figure. He was a good looking guy.”

Margolis: But during the election, Yushchenko suffered a dramatic change of appearance. He claims his political enemies poisoned him.

Vynnytskyi: “It was obvious that there was something wrong with him because his face became pockmarked black, he was constantly… tears in his eyes. And when he spoke there was almost a foam coming out of his mouth.”

Margolis: But rather than seeing a monster, Vynnytskyi says Ukrainian voters saw the face of a man who suffered for democracy.

Vynnytskyi: “Quite frankly it was a means of mobilizing the country. If they could do this, they, whoever they is, if they could disfigure this really good looking guy to this extent, this presidential candidate, well, what can they do to me?”

Viktor Yushchenko - before and after in 2004

Margolis: Yushchenko’s accusations have never been proven. Today, his face looks better. He seems like he suffered nothing more than a bad case of acne as an adolescent. Yushchenko’s pockmarked face probably won’t hurt his bid for re-election, says Dan Schnur, a professor of political communications at UC Berkeley.

Schnur: “The key is not so much the injury or the disfigurement, but how it came about. If a candidate suffered those injurites in a bar fight, it probably wouldn’t do him much good, it probably would do him a decent amount of harm. But if the circumstances were similar to Yushchenko’s, it’s almost certainly a net positive rather than a minus.”

Margolis: But voters don’t seem concerned with Yushchenko’s face. They’re more concerned about his ability to govern. His approval ratings in Ukraine hover between four and six percent.

In the western city of Lviv, old men gather in a park to play dominoes. They interrupt each other and offer scathing remarks of disappointment about their president.

Men playing dominoes in Lviv

1st man: “He talked about putting bandits in jail. Nothing changed. Did he put anybody in jail? No! They’re all friends with him now and sitting in Parliament!”
2nd man: “Yushchenko can’t even stand up for himself. He can’t even get his own poisoning investigated!”

Margolis: None of these men cared about his physical appearance. In fact, they actually gave me perplexed looks when I asked them if it mattered. I posed the same question to some women in Ukraine. Most didn’t care what Yushchenko looked like. But a few did, like Liliya Filipishona. I met her on a train traveling to Odessa.

Filipishona: “The face of the person representing my country at international gatherings and events should look better. The incident happened some time ago, and could’ve done something, gone through some treatments.”

Margolis: Yushchenko endured two dozen surgeries on his face. But Filipishona shows little sympathy. She doesn’t believe Yushchenko was poisoned. Many othes in Ukraine share her skepticism. They think Yushchenko may have harmed himself to gain sympathy from voters. French dermatologist Jean-Hilaire Saurat treated Yushchenko. He says he’s amazed by those attitudes.

Saurat: “Whether he did it by himself, it would be extremely, extremely bizarre.”

Margolis: Saurat says Yushchenko had dioxin levels in his blood 10,000 times above normal. Saurat adds that Yushchenko’s suffering was far more than just skin deep. His liver, pancreas and intestines were swollen. His digestive tract was covered in ulcers. Saurat says Yushchenko suffered incredible pain.

Saurat: “A normal person’s pain can be measured from zero to 10. So I would say for at least one year-and-a-half he had between eight and 10, which is the highest pain that people can suffer.”

Margolis: Yushchenko is no longer facing such severe pain. And now he’s ramping up his re-election campaign for president. His main opponent is a one-time ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, a striking woman with a strong political résumé. She’s become far more popular. In politics, looks do matter. But this may be less of a beauty contest, and more of a rejection of Yushchenko’s political record.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were allies in 2004

For the World, I’m Jason Margolis, Kiev, Ukraine.