Yanukovich refuses to concede defeat in Ukrainian election

UKRAINE:Prime minister Viktor Yanukovich demanded a chance to form a new Ukrainian government yesterday, despite election results indicating that the leaders of the so-called Orange Revolution had enough support to oust him from office.

With 85 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Yanukovich's Regions Party and his allies had 41.2 per cent of votes, against a combined 46.5 per cent for the Our Ukraine party of president Viktor Yushchenko and Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko led by his former prime minister.

"It was a victory for the democratic forces, our common victory with the president," Ms Tymoshenko said of Sunday's election. "We will be able to form a coalition in one or two days."

Mr Yanukovich, whose fraudulent presidential election "victory" in 2004 was overturned by the Orange Revolution, was defiant, saying his party's likely status as the biggest single group in parliament gave him the right to form a new government.

"We must now declare firmly that we are ready to defend our choice and that we will accept no revision of the election results," he said.

"We have won and I am confident that yet again we will be forming a government of people's trust, a government of national unity . . . In line with all international standards the Regions Party has every right to form a government."

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, urged Ukraine's leaders to avoid protracted wrangling over the results, after a long-running power struggle between Mr Yushchenko and Mr Yanukovich that has paralysed politics in Europe's second-largest state.

"Now that the Ukrainian people have expressed their will, I call on the political leaders of Ukraine to move on swiftly with putting in place a new, stable government and continuing necessary domestic reforms," Mr Solana said.

A quick resolution looked unlikely, however, with Mr Yanukovich insisting on his right to try and form a government and Mr Yushchenko ordering an investigation into possible vote-rigging in Mr Yanukovich's pro-Russian stronghold of southern and eastern Ukraine.

"I am concerned at the delay in counting votes in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine," Mr Yushchenko said in a televised address.

"I am giving the order to law-enforcement agencies to immediately begin an investigation into the circumstance of the delay . . . Anyone committing fraud will be punished."

Earlier in the day, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the vote had been conducted "mostly in line with international commitments and standards for democratic elections" and with "no apparent regional disparities".

Even if Mr Yanukovich did gain President Yushchenko's permission to try and form a coalition, he and potential partners are unlikely to have enough seats in parliament to make it work.

Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko have stated their intention to re-form their alliance, which collapsed in acrimony just months after the Orange Revolution.

Ms Tymoshenko's stronger than expected showing at the polls makes her a powerful ally - and a dangerous potential enemy - for the president, who faces re-election in 2009.