Opposition wins rerun of disputed Ukrainian election

SUPPORTERS of the Ukrainian opposition were celebrating in the streets of Kiev last night after the supreme court handed them victory in the bitter battle for the nation’s presidency.

The court invalidated the disputed official results of the tainted presidential runoff election and ruled that a repeat vote must be held by December 26.

It was a massive victory for opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and his hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in the freezing the capital.

The court issued its verdict in response to an appeal by Mr Yushchenko to cancel the official results of the runoff, which he said had been rigged in favour of Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed, and the repeat vote is to be held nationwide, rather than only in the districts specifically challenged.

Mr Yushchenko had pushed for a quick repeat of the runoff, whose results Western nations have refused to recognise.

The Supreme Court's decision came more than six hours after it retired to rule on the challenge of the disputed election that has divided the country and sent throngs of opposition supporters into the streets of Kiev to press their case.

Convoys of opposition reinforcements clad in the Yushchenko campaign colour of orange had crowded into the nation's capital to witness what they hoped would be a dramatic judicial ruling against the country's Moscow-backed government.

"This is the only decision we have been waiting for," said Anatoly, a 56-year-old engineer among the crowd.

Inside the courthouse, Mr Yushchenko's lawyers were also jubilant.

"This is a great victory of all people who have been standing at the square, a great victory for Ukrainian democracy," said Mykola Katerinchuk, the lawyer who drafted the text of the appeal.

However, in Mr Yanukovich's stronghold in eastern Ukraine, his backers expressed anger.

"We have a president Viktor Yanukovich," said Konstantin Sadalsky, shaking his fist at a TV screen in an internet cafe in the eastern city of Donetsk.