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Yanukovich appeals Ukraine vote results with election officials
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-29 21:41
Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich contested the results of a
presidential rerun vote with election officials as the winner of the poll Viktor
Yushchenko prepared unperturbed to take office.
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| Ukrainian demonstrators, wearing orange campaign ribbons of
opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, flash victory signs and shout slogans
during a rally outside the Cabinet of Ministers in central Kiev, December
29, 2004. Supporters of Ukraine's next president Yushchenko lifted a
blockade of the government building on Wednesday after receiving
assurances that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich would not try to enter
the building. [Reuters] | The central election
commission announced that Yanukovich had filed a complaint over results of
Sunday's historic election, which showed Yushchenko winning by more than 2.2
million votes.
"Yanukovich's team filed a complaint just before midnight on Tuesday over
violations in all (voting) districts," commission spokeswoman Zoya Charikova
told AFP. "The commission now has two days to examine the appeal."
The move means that Ukraine's five-week election saga, which has roiled this
ex-Soviet nation and raised tension between Russia and the West, is likely to
drag on into the New Year amid legal wrangling.
The prime minister, who was stripped of victory in an earlier presidential
runoff in November because of widespread fraud, has vowed to contest the results
of the repeat election to the supreme court.
Yanukovich was due to hold a press conference in late afternoon.
Observers say the appeals are unlikely to scuttle the results of Sunday's
election because Yanukovich lacks mass popular support and because the number of
irregularities that did occur were not enough to narrow the gap between the two
candidates in final vote tallies.
Yanukovich campaign manager Taras Chornovil shared the pessimism Wednesday,
saying: "Everything is absolutely predetermined, there will not be any decisions
in our favor."
Western observers have generally hailed Sunday's rerun for making great
progress toward international standards and said that the violations that did
occur were not of the systemic kind that marred the November 21 vote.
Russian observers have however criticized the poll, as well as their Western
counterparts for a lack of "objectivity" in monitoring the election.
According to complete preliminary ballot counts released by the central
election commission Tuesday, Yushchenko had won the weekend election by a
comfortable margin of 52 percent to Yanukovich's 41 percent, a difference of
more than 2.2 million votes.
Yushchenko, confident his victory would withstand any legal challenges, has
gone about preparing to assume power, discussing a program for his first 100
days in office at a meeting Tuesday with top advisors.
"My government and I will make EU membership a principal policy goal," he
said, repeating his campaign pledge, in an interview with a Dutch daily Algemeen
Dadbald on Wednesday.
He stressed that Ukraine "has to solve its problems with Russia first... Even
if we cannot get an ideal with Russia we ould try to build a good
relationship... It is in the best interests of Ukraine."
Congratulations over the vote have poured in since Sunday's election, with
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder saying Tuesday: "I am convinced that Ukraine
under your leadership will continue to forcefully pursue its course toward
democracy and a market economy under the rule of law."
Yushchenko delivered a fresh blow to Yanukovich Wednesday, when a government
meeting that the prime minister had planned to chair was cancelled after
opposition supporters blocked the seat of government in Kiev.
Hundreds of orange-clad Yushchenko supporters surrounded the building,
chanting and beating on garbage cans for several hours, before leaving when
authorities assured them the cabinet meeting had been
cancelled.
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