Tymoshenko to challenge Ukraine election results

UKRAINE’S Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to legally challenge the results of the presidential runoff that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appears to have won, her campaign said yesterday.

Tymoshenko’s allies say she will not concede until appeals have run their course and recounts have taken place at a number of polling stations.

The official announcement of complete results is expected today. Thousands of Yanukovych supporters are gathering outside the headquarters of the Central Election Commission in a rally Yanukovych’s team says was organised to defend the results of the election.

According to the commission, Yanukovych is leading in Sunday’s vote by 3.5 percentage points with only 0.02% of precincts left to count. Unlike past elections, the vote has been praised by international monitors as being free and fair. The US Embassy hailed it as “another step in the consolidation of Ukraine’s democracy”.

Despite that, Andriy Shkil, a prominent member of the Tymoshenko Bloc in parliament, said: “We will recognise defeat only after a decision by the courts.”

The respected Ukrainskaya Pravda website and Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency cited Tymoshenko as telling party officials she will “never recognise” the legitimacy of the runoff and plans to demand a third round of voting. Tymoshenko’s allies say the election was marred by fraud and recounts will be demanded at certain polling stations. Tymoshenko has not yet issued any calls for mass protests against the vote like those of Ukraine’s 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution, where she was a leading figure.