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Ukraine PM returns to work after election setback
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich returns to work on Tuesday after vowing to go to court to challenge his defeat to a West-leaning rival in the rerun of a bruising presidential election.
Liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko has an unassailable lead after Sunday's contest -- the third time Ukrainians have voted in less than two months -- proclaiming the ex-Soviet state finally free 14 years after independence from Soviet rule. Setting down his broad objectives in a newspaper article, Yushchenko said the election -- and the mass protests in his favor preceding it -- had put an end to its post-Soviet era. He pledged to reach out to all parts of the country of 47 million. Both men are still waiting for the formal result to be announced by the Central Election Commission. With 99.9 percent of votes counted, Yushchenko had 52.01 percent to Yanukovich's 44.18 percent. The prime minister's press secretary, Oleskander Tarnavsky, said Yanukovich had ended the "holiday" he had taken after last month's runoff -- won by Yanukovich but later struck down by the Supreme Court. After the court ruling, parliament dismissed the prime minister, but Kuchma refused to sign an enabling decree, leaving Yanukovich in office. Yanukovich, backed by Kuchma and by big neighbor Russia in the earlier poll, refused to concede defeat in Sunday's contest. SUPREME COURT He vowed to submit large numbers of irregularities to the Supreme Court, saying only a "blind man" could have failed to note them. In contrast, Western observers praised the poll as a vast improvement. "I will never recognize this defeat because there were violations of the constitution and of human rights in our country," Yanukovich told a news conference on Monday evening. The head of the Central Election Commission has vowed to defend any ruling by the commission. Ukraine's prosecutor general launched a criminal case into the death of Transport Minister Heorhiy Kyrpa, an ally of the prime minister, with investigators trying to determine whether he committed suicide. The opposition had accused Kyrpa, who was found shot dead at his home outside Kiev on Monday, of arranging free transport for miners from the eastern industrial town of Donetsk to Kiev to counter protests backing Yushchenko's allegations of electoral fraud. The government denies the allegation. In an article published in the Financial Times, Yushchenko said Ukraine had rejected fraud and autocracy and "affirmed itself as a free European country that shares the political values of modern democratic states." "With election politicking over, I shall endeavour to reach out to all sections of society and establish order in Ukraine's international economic relations," he wrote. Among early projects he said would be "plans for ramping up Ukraine's relations with the European Union," which Yushchenko says Ukraine should aim to join one day.
But mindful of the importance of relations with Moscow, Yushchenko also told the daily Izvestia there was no crisis in relations despite Kremlin support for his rival in the poll. "Russia is Ukraine's neighbor," Yushchenko said in an interview. "You must not forget Slav roots, links between families, culture, language. If you think about Ukraine's interests you must always conclude: Russia is your partner." |
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