Ukraine opposition seeks no-confidence vote

“If we really want to preserve peace and accord, if we really want to build a democratic state … let’s hold new elections,” said Kuchma, who had backed Yanukovych – the announced winner of the November 21 presidential run-off the West has refused to recognise.

Kuchma spoke yesterday as Yushchenko’s supporters contested the vote in the Supreme Court, demanding that it cancel the official results because of evidence of official fraud.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters who flooded central Kiev for the eighth day, Yushchenko urged them to maintain their vigil despite freezing temperatures. “The next couple of days will bring a solution,” he said, as the crowd shouted his name in support.

He said the opposition expected the court’s verdict soon and added that it would also move today to topple Yanukovych’s cabinet through a no-confidence motion in parliament.

In a sign of a rift in Yanukovych’s camp, Serhiy Tyhypko resigned as his campaign chief and also stepped down as Ukraine’s Central Bank chairman.

Kuchma, meanwhile, warned that the country’s financial system could “fall apart like a house of cards” in “a few days” under the impact of protests that swept the nation of 48 million.

The election crisis has deepened the historically-rooted divide between Ukraine’s pro-Russian east and Yushchenko’s strongholds in the capital and western Ukraine.

Yanukovych had the backing of the Kremlin, which still yields significant political and economic influence over energy-dependent Ukraine.

Yanukovych’s native Donetsk province scheduled an autonomy referendum for Sunday, and other eastern regions threatened to follow suit if Yanukovych is shut out of the presidency.

Yushchenko and his allies urged Kuchma to sack the separatist governors along with Ukraine’s chief prosecutor who had failed to open a criminal investigation against them.

Kuchma warned that “we cannot in any instance allow the disintegration or division of Ukraine”, while US secretary of state Colin Powell called him and urged him to keep his country intact.

The Kharkiv regional legislature yesterday retracted its threat to introduce self-rule, but the Donetsk region pressed ahead with Sunday’s referendum.

In the eastern city of Luhansk, several dozen Yanukovych supporters armed with brass knuckles and hammers beat about 70 Yushchenko supporters who gathered nearby.

Some 20 people were injured, including a Canadian election monitor, said Yushchenko’s campaign spokesman in Luhansk, Dmytro Malikov.

The opposition has voiced fears that Kuchma or his aides might try to introduce a state of emergency, but Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk firmly ruled it out and said the army would not move against the people.

Kuchma’s critics have expressed concern he might seek a way to cling to power, but he reaffirmed yesterday that he would not run if a new election was held.

Under Ukrainian law, the Supreme Court cannot rule on the overall results but can declare results invalid in individual precincts.

Mykola Katerinchuk, a Yushchenko aide, said the appeal focused on results in eight eastern and southern Ukrainian regions – more than 15 million votes, almost half of the total cast in the run-off.

The opposition claimed “severe violations of Ukrainian legislation” and asked the court to annul the results, he said. It is also asking the court to name Yushchenko the winner because of his narrow first-round victory.

Yanukovych, who was declared the winner of the run-off by a margin of 871,402 votes, said he would support a re-vote if allegations of fraud in the election were proven – but that he had yet to see such proof.

The Supreme Court said last week that the official election results could not be published until it ruled on Yushchenko’s challenge – effectively blocking Yanukovych’s inauguration.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s parliament passed a non-binding resolution declaring the election invalid.