Election protestors vow to stay put

The campaign for a third round of voting in Ukraine’s bitterly fought presidential contest officially opened today, with activists signing up to monitor the election and a top ally of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko speaking confidently of victory.

Lawmaker Yuliya Tymoshenko insisted Yushchenko would prevail against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who is favoured by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We are confident of a colossal victory by Yushchenko,” she told journalists, adding that fewer officials are now willing to falsify the vote. “Something has changed, thanks to the people,” Tymoshenko said.

Thousands of orange-clad protesters – many grimy after living for two weeks in the opposition’s sprawling tent camp on a Kiev main street – have vowed to remain until the election laws are passed.

But their spirits seemed subdued today, as it became clear to many that they would remain in place until the December 26 repeat vote.

Young people bundled in fur-lined coats and tight watchman caps slumped on plastic chairs or wood blocks drawn around fires lit in rubbish bins.

“We can stay here until the end,” said Yaroslav Bileko, 19. “Even though we are tired physically and emotionally, the thought of democracy warms our souls.”

Yushchenko has asked his supporters to maintain their vigil until Kuchma sacks the Cabinet and replaces the Central Election Commission.

New campaigning kicked off officially today, ordered by Ukraine’s Supreme Court in a landmark decision to throw out the results of the November 21 vote.

Yushchenko on Saturday urged international observers to return in full force despite the Christmas holiday to help Ukraine hold a clean vote.

“That will be the day that will determine Ukraine’s fate for decades and centuries ahead,” he said.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will again deploy a full-fledged mission for the rerun, Chairman Solomon Passy pledged.

More than 1,000 monitors are planning to travel to Ukraine from Canada, home to many people of Ukrainian origin, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said.

Parliament adjourned Saturday until December 14 without passing opposition-backed legislation that would amend the election laws and reshuffle the Central Election Commission, which Yushchenko’s supporters accused of covering up official fraud.

“This parliamentary break will cause the situation to further deteriorate and also increase resistance,” pro-Yushchenko lawmaker Yuriy Kluichkovsky said, adding that opposition lawmakers were trying to negotiate to bring parliament back earlier.

Communists, socialists and pro-government factions in parliament refused to back the electoral changes, saying pro-Yushchenko lawmakers had backed out of a deal to also pass constitutional reforms that would transfer some of the president’s powers to parliament.

Yushchenko accused his government foes of trying to trim presidential powers because they feared he would win the rerun. He also said President Leonid Kuchma, who anointed Yanukovych as his preferred successor, was blocking changes in the electoral laws.

But the dispute showed the trouble that Yushchenko still faces from Ukraine’s fractious parliament and called into question his alliance with Oleksandr Moroz, the Socialist Party leader.

Moroz’s support is seen as important in helping Yushchenko win votes in eastern Ukraine and urban areas where many voted for Moroz in the October 31 first round.

Tymoshenko, however, rejected allegations of a rift.

“There is not any big conflict that would affect the coalition. We’ll win the election together,” she said.

Kuchma blamed the opposition for reneging on a compromise agreement brokered last Wednesday by international mediators. The agreement called for parliament to vote for the electoral and constitutional changes all at once.

Kuchma and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski have tentatively agreed to hold another round of European-sponsored talks tomorrow.