Ukraine on edge of revolt after election
His opponent, who looks to the West, said the result was a fraud and called supporters into the streets after foreign observers said the vote did not meet international standards.
More than 10,000 opposition supporters gathered in Kiev’s main Independence Square, where Viktor Yushchenko urged his backers to demonstrate against alleged vote rigging.
“We will not leave this place until we win,” Mr Yushchenko, wearing a scarf in his campaign colour, orange, told the crowd.
“The people’s will cannot be broken. People’s votes cannot be stolen.”
Exit polls showed Mr Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer, winning Sunday’s vote, while official results gave victory to Mr Yanukovych - raising tensions in a battle for the presidency that many had feared could lead to violence.
Kiev city council urged the country’s parliament not to recognise the results putting the capital on a growing list of major cities rebelling against the official election commission results.
Earlier, the cities of Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk announced they recognised Mr Yushchenko as the legally elected president.
A prominent group of foreign observers said the vote did not meet international democratic standards.
The joint mission - representing the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO - said they observed abuse of state resources in favour of the prime minister, who has the support of the outgoing president Leonid Kuchma and the government of Russia, Ukraine’s powerful neighbour.
The observer group, which had denounced abuses in the election’s first round, said authorities had failed to fix the flaws.
Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said: “A concerted and forceful programme of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or co-operation of governmental authorities.”
US President George Bush, who sent Mr Lugar as his envoy, warned last week that Washington would reconsider its relations with Ukraine in the event of a fraudulent election.
With more than 99% of precincts counted, Mr Yanukovych had 49.42%, compared with Mr Yushchenko’s 46.7%.
Mr Yushchenko said the opposition will stage a “threefold offensive” aimed at battling election fraud: demanding an emergency parliamentary session, setting up a protest tent camp in central Kiev and challenging suspected voting violations in the courts.
Mr Yushchenko’s key ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, called on Ukrainians to begin a general strike.
But Mr Yushchenko’s enemies claim the opposition could try to foment civil unrest with the aim of seizing power.
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