Ukraine vote challenged
By SABRA AYRES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/30/04
KIEV, Ukraine ? As protesters kept him from presiding over a Cabinet meeting, defeated Kremlin-backed presidential candidate Victor Yanukovych on Wednesday officially challenged the victory of pro-Western opposition leader Victor Yushchenko in Sunday's election.
He filed documents with the country's Supreme Court and the Central Election Commission alleging widespread voting irregularities.
Opponents of Ukraine Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych block the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kiev on Wednesday, preventing Yanukovych from meeting with his top advisers.
Yanukovych's action was widely seen as a hopeless last-ditch effort to change the outcome of Sunday's balloting, which Yushchenko won by a healthy margin of 8 percentage points. Indeed, many foreign nations already have recognized Yushchenko as the president-elect and plans are under way for his inauguration in several weeks.
The Supreme Court and the Election Commission were expected to quickly consider the challenges in an effort to end the political crisis that has gripped Ukraine for weeks.
More than 1,000 Yushchenko supporters gathered around the Cabinet of Ministers building Wednesday morning, waving Ukrainian flags and demanding that Yanukovych resign as prime minister.
The Cabinet managed to meet later in another building, but without Yanukovych.
Ukraine's parliament passed a no-confidence vote on Yanukovych and his Cabinet on Dec. 1, not long after the Supreme Court annulled his election in a Nov. 21 runoff marred by widespread vote fraud.
But the embattled prime minister has refused to submit his resignation. By law, Yanukovych and his Cabinet may stay in office for 60 days after the no-confidence vote.
"It is a matter of my principles not to submit a resignation," Yanukovych told a news conference.
Wednesday's protests were a continuation of demonstrations that have been staged by pro-Yushchenko supporters iin the center of Kiev since the Nov. 21 runoff. At times they have numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Many participating in the blockade said they had come to prevent the government from pushing through last-minute decisions that could undermine the gains of the Yushchenko movement.
"We were there to defend the revolution," said Aivaz Ozmanov, 47, who joined a dozen other Tatars outside the Cabinet building. Tartars are an ethnic minority in Ukraine and overwhelmingly supported Yushchenko.
"We have already fired the bandit powers working in those offices and they should go home," he said.
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By SABRA AYRES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/30/04
KIEV, Ukraine ? As protesters kept him from presiding over a Cabinet meeting, defeated Kremlin-backed presidential candidate Victor Yanukovych on Wednesday officially challenged the victory of pro-Western opposition leader Victor Yushchenko in Sunday's election.
He filed documents with the country's Supreme Court and the Central Election Commission alleging widespread voting irregularities.
Opponents of Ukraine Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych block the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kiev on Wednesday, preventing Yanukovych from meeting with his top advisers.
Yanukovych's action was widely seen as a hopeless last-ditch effort to change the outcome of Sunday's balloting, which Yushchenko won by a healthy margin of 8 percentage points. Indeed, many foreign nations already have recognized Yushchenko as the president-elect and plans are under way for his inauguration in several weeks.
The Supreme Court and the Election Commission were expected to quickly consider the challenges in an effort to end the political crisis that has gripped Ukraine for weeks.
More than 1,000 Yushchenko supporters gathered around the Cabinet of Ministers building Wednesday morning, waving Ukrainian flags and demanding that Yanukovych resign as prime minister.
The Cabinet managed to meet later in another building, but without Yanukovych.
Ukraine's parliament passed a no-confidence vote on Yanukovych and his Cabinet on Dec. 1, not long after the Supreme Court annulled his election in a Nov. 21 runoff marred by widespread vote fraud.
But the embattled prime minister has refused to submit his resignation. By law, Yanukovych and his Cabinet may stay in office for 60 days after the no-confidence vote.
"It is a matter of my principles not to submit a resignation," Yanukovych told a news conference.
Wednesday's protests were a continuation of demonstrations that have been staged by pro-Yushchenko supporters iin the center of Kiev since the Nov. 21 runoff. At times they have numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Many participating in the blockade said they had come to prevent the government from pushing through last-minute decisions that could undermine the gains of the Yushchenko movement.
"We were there to defend the revolution," said Aivaz Ozmanov, 47, who joined a dozen other Tatars outside the Cabinet building. Tartars are an ethnic minority in Ukraine and overwhelmingly supported Yushchenko.
"We have already fired the bandit powers working in those offices and they should go home," he said.
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