Yanukovych to challenge Yushchenko's victory in Supreme Court
The loser of Ukraine’s presidential election was poised to file complaints in court today to challenge the election victory of Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko, a move that could prolong the political tensions that have plagued the country for months.
Yushchenko was declared the official winner of the December 26 rerun for the presidency, but former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has refused to concede defeat and announced his allies would file a complaint to the Supreme Court by 2pm (12pm Irish time).
Yanukovych said yesterday that there was widespread fraud in the December 26 vote – a mirror of the strategy Yushchenko used to gain the annulment of an earlier election in which Yanukovych was declared winner. Yanukovych said he would demand “the annulment of the so-called rerun”.
A favourable court ruling for Yanukovych is considered unlikely. On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected eight minor motions from his camp.
The final official vote count showed Yushchenko with 51.99 % and Yanukovych with 44.2 %. But the result must be approved by the Supreme Court and published in two official gazettes before Yushchenko can be inaugurated, and the court said yesterday it must first review Yanukovych’s complaint.
Last month’s election was a rerun of November 21 fraudulent balloting in which Yanukovych was declared winner. The Supreme Court annulled the vote, which was followed by massive opposition protests dubbed the Orange Revolution after Yushchenko’s campaign colour.
Nestor Shufrich, Yanukovych’s representative in the election commission, said the appeal filed Wednesday would focus on an electoral reform enacted after the November 21 vote that blocked absentee ballots and home voting – mechanisms that had allegedly been a prime source of voting abuse.
That reform was overturned by the Constitutional Court just a day before the December 26 election, leaving little time for many old and ailing Ukrainians to make voting arrangements.
Ukraine’s political tensions derive partly from an ethnic fault line between the country’s east, which is heavily Russian-speaking, and the centre and west, where Ukrainian nationalist spirit is strong.
Yanukovych supporters fear a Yushchenko presidency could marginalise Russian-speakers and stoke tensions with Moscow, which is Ukraine’s largest trading partner and energy supplier.
