Editing Leonid Kuchma (section)

=== Role in the election's crisis of 2004 ===
Kuchma's role in the election's crisis of 2004 is not entirely clear. After the second round on 22 November 2004, it appeared that Yanukovych had won the election by fraud, which caused the opposition and independent observers to dispute the results, leading to the Orange Revolution.

Kuchma was urged by Yanukovych and Viktor Medvedchuk (the head of the presidential office) to declare a state of emergency and hold the inauguration of Yanukovych. He denied the request by admittedly stating in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he refused to pass the government into the hands of an alleged Donetsk criminal.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> Later, Yanukovych publicly accused Kuchma of a betrayal.

Nevertheless, Kuchma refused to officially dismiss Prime Minister [[Viktor Yanukovych]]<nowiki/>after the parliament passed a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet on 1 December 2004.

Soon after, Kuchma left the country. He returned to Ukraine in March 2005.

Kuchma stated in October 2009 he would vote for Victor Yanukovych at the Ukrainian presidential election, 2010. Although Kuchma in conversation with United States Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft, in a document dated 2 February 2010 uncovered during the United States diplomatic cables leak, called the voters choice between Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko during the second round of the 2010 presidential election as a choice between “bad and very bad" and praised (the candidate eliminated in the first round of the election) Arseniy Yatsenyuk instead.

As of September 2011 Kuchma believes that Yanukovych was the real winner of the 2004 election.