Ukraine court sets date for repeat vote
Ukraine’s The Supreme Court declared the results of the tainted disputed presidential run-off election invalid today and Friday that a repeat vote should be held by December 26.
The short timeframe set for a new vote appeared to rule out the possibility of holding an entirely new election, as sought by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.
Presiding Judge Anatoly Yarema said the rerun should be held by December 26.
The court issued its verdict in response to an appeal by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who asked to cancel results of the November 21 runoff, which he said had been rigged in favour of Kremlin backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Yushchenko has pushed for a quick rerun of the runoff. He has rejected outgoing President Leonid Kuchma’s call for a completely new election which was widely seen as a bid to field a new candidate more popular than Yanukovych.
The court said Yushchenko cannot be considered elected president based on the first round of the vote, which he won.
Prime Minister was declared winner of the second round run-off by the Central Election Commission. The opposition and independent observers said that vote was tainted by ballot rigging.
Tens of thousands of opposition protesters who had massed in Kiev’s central square in anticipation of the decision cheered, waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian and orange Yushchenko flags and chanting “Yushchenko! Yushchenko!” The crackle of fireworks could be heard in the distance.
Yushchenko’s lawyers in court were jubilant.
“This is a great victory of all people who have been standing at the square, a great victory for Ukrainian democracy,” said Mykola Katerinchuk, the lawyer who wrote the appeal.
Another Yushchenko ally, Yuri Klyuchkovsky, called the verdict a “historic decision that opens the way for a fair solution to the crisis.”
Representatives from Yanukovych and the Central Election Commission left the court before the judges announced their decision.
The runoff had triggered a massive political crisis, with tens of thousands of Yushchenko supporters maintaining a round-the clock vigil in the capital for the twelfth day and laying siege to official buildings.
The crisis has strained relations between Russia, which has staunchly backed Yanukovych, and the West, which has refused to accept the official results.
