Yanukovych loses another appeal against election result

Ukraine’s Supreme Court today turned down four appeals against the result of last month’s presidential election results filed by Viktor Yanukovych, the former prime minister who preliminary results show lost to a Western-leaning reformer.

It was the latest rejection of a series of moves by Yanukovych’s campaign to overturn the Boxing Day election won by Viktor Yushchenko. That vote was a court-ordered rerun of the November election, which was annulled after allegations that massive fraud had given Yanukovych the victory.

The court rejected the appeals because they were ”improperly formed,” court official Lyana Shlaposhnikova said in Kiev. She did not elaborate.

“Yanukovych will submit more complaints,” she said.

Yanukovych stepped down as prime minister after last month’s election, but has not conceded defeat and is vowing to pursue all possible avenues to challenge the revote’s results.

Yushchenko has not been declared the official winner. The Central Elections Commission is expected to announce official final results later today.

That would pave the way for Yushchenko to take office.

Yanukovych’s camp is preparing a 500 volume complaint to the Supreme Court that “would prove massive election fraud in the rerun”, said campaign manager Taras Chornovyl.

“Our complaint will be the mirror image of Yushchenko’s appeal and it would prove that the establishment of vote results is impossible due to fraud,” Chornovyl said.

He claimed however, that Yushchenko’s allies in the Central Election Commission will try to “speed up” the announcement of final election results before Yanukovych’s lawyers have time to submit their complaints.

Chornovyl also threatened that angry Yanukovych supporters from his stronghold eastern Donetsk region could pour into Kiev to protest at an elections commission declaration of Yushchenko as the winner.

“We will not turn to violent actions but we are hearing about radical moves from Donetsk. We will not be able to control the people,” he said.