Ukraine Supreme Court urges repeat vote

Ukraine’s Supreme Court today cancelled the presidential run-off election result and called for a repeat vote.

It said opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko cannot be considered elected president based on the first round of the vote which he won.

Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was declared winner of the second round run-off by the Central Election Commission.

The opposition and independent observers said that vote was tainted by ballot rigging.

The court issued its verdict in response to an appeal by Yushchenko, who asked it to cancel the official results of the runoff, which he said had been rigged in favour of Yanukovych.

Yushchenko has pushed for a quick rerun of the run-off.

He has rejected outgoing President Leonid Kuchma’s call for a completely new election which was widely seen as a bid to field a new candidate more popular than Yanukovych.