Ukraine hints at new vote as stalemate talks fail
Ukraine’s two rivals for power failed in nearly three hours of talks to resolve the political stalemate over who will lead the bitterly-divided nation.
Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko told a huge rally that he was insisting on a new election.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma presided at yesterday’s meeting with Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and a delegation of key European envoys.
He said a working group had been established to find a solution to the crisis over who will succeed him.
The Kremlin-backed Yanukovych was declared the winner of Sunday’s election but cannot be inaugurated pending hearing of an appeal to the Supreme Court filed by the Yushchenko camp.
US President George Bush said that the world “is watching very closely” and he hoped the crisis would be ”resolved in a way that brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian government”.
The US and EU have said they cannot accept the results of the election, warning of “consequences” of Ukraine’s relations with the West if the current outcome stands.
Hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko’s supporters have massed in the streets since Sunday to protest what they and Western nations have called seriously flawed balloting.
Yushchenko did not give details of what was discussed in the talks at the ornate Mariinsky presidential palace.
But he told tens of thousands of his supporters in Independence Square shortly afterward that his side was insisting on a rerun of the voting, which he said he wanted to be held December 12 under the observation of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Yushchenko did not specify in his statement to the crowd, but he appeared to be calling for a new nationwide vote, rather than only in some areas.
Earlier yesterday, the Unian news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko as saying that Moscow regarded potential revoting favourably – an apparent significant retreat from its earlier insistence that the elections were fair and valid.
The Supreme Court appeal is to be heard on Monday, and the protests are expected to continue for several days.
The size of the crowds could rise as the weekend frees many people from their jobs, but some protesters seemed disappointed with the results of yesterday’s talks, and that could slow down the demonstrations’ momentum.
The meeting included European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Boris Gryzlov, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament. Jan Kubis, the head of the OSCE, and Volodymyr Lytvyn, speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, also participated.
