Opposition warns Ukraine on verge of conflict

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine’s presidential election and took a symbolic oath of office today, warning that the country was on the verge of civil conflict.

More than 200,000 supporters gathered in the capital, Kiev, in protest at alleged election fraud.

Yushchenko accused authorities of rigging Sunday’s vote in favour of pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and announced a campaign of civil disobedience.

“Ukraine is on the threshold of a civil conflict,” Yushchenko told MPs gathered for an emergency session of parliament to consider an opposition request to annul the election results.

“We have two choices: either the answer will be given by the parliament, or the streets will give an answer.”

The parliamentary session ended without making any decision, since only 191 MPs – less than the 226 required to have a quorum – attended.

After the session ended, Yushchenko swore an oath on a 300-year-old Bible. The Ukrainian constitution, however, stipulates that the president swears allegiance on a copy of the constitution.

MPs chanted “Bravo, Mr President!”

Earlier, Yushchenko and his allies had released a statement appealing “to the parliaments and nations of the world to bolster the will of the Ukrainian people, to support their aspiration to return to democracy”.

The opposition will conduct “a campaign of civil disobedience” and “a non-violent struggle for recognition of the true results of the election”.

The Election Commission’s announcement that the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych was ahead of Yushchenko has galvanised anger among many of the former Soviet republic’s 48 million people.

Official results, with more 99.48% of precincts counted, showed Yanukovych leading with 49.39% to his challenger’s 46.71%. But several exit polls had found Yushchenko the winner.

More than 100,000 people marched behind Yushchenko to the parliament building and waited behind metal barriers, waving orange flags – his campaign colour - and holding a giant orange ribbon over their heads, chanting: ”Criminals go away!”

But many began leaving after parliament failed to reach quorum and temperatures dropped as evening approached.

In parliament, pro-Yushchenko MPs – wearing orange handkerchiefs in their pockets – took turns at the podium.

“All political forces should negotiate and solve the situation without blood,” said parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvyn.

“The activities of politicians and the government … have divided society and brought people into to the streets,” Litvyn said. “Today there is a danger of activities moving beyond control.”

A no-confidence vote in parliament would have carried political significance, but it would not have been binding.

According to the Ukrainian constitution, a no-confidence vote must be initiated by the president – and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has staunchly backed Yanukovych.

Opposition leader and Yushchenko ally Yulia Tymoshenko, wearing an orange ribbon around her neck, called on MPs “not to go to into any negotiations” with the government.

Instead, Tymoshenko said, they should ”announce a new government, a new president, a new Ukraine.”

Yushchenko supporters set up tents awash with orange on Kiev’s main avenue and in Independence Square, pledging to stay despite freezing temperatures until he is declared president. People continued to arrive in minibuses and on foot, raising fears of civil unrest.

The tent city even generated its own one-page newspaper, which was being handed out to supporters.

Kiev’s city council and the administrations of four other large cities – Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk – have refused to recognise the official results and they back Yushchenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who strongly praised Yanukovych during the election, sent his congratulations to the prime minister, but observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organisations pointed to extensive indications of voting fraud.

The European Union called for an urgent review of the results, and Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, spoke of “a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse”.

Putin today said criticism by the OSCE is ”inadmissible” because there are no official results.

In televised comments, Yanukovych called for national unity, saying: “I categorically will not accept the actions of certain politicians who are now calling people to the barricades. This small group of radicals has taken upon itself the goal of splitting Ukraine.”