Electoral Commission backs Yushchenko victory

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission tonight declared Western-leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the presidential election over Kremlin-favoured Viktor Yanukovych.

The commission announced that the final official tally of the December 26 voting – which was a rerun of the November 21 election that was annulled amid allegations of massive fraud – showed Yushchenko with 51.99% of the votes and Yanukovych with 44.2%.