Ukraine's capital, Kiev, exploded in wild celebrations last night after the Supreme Court annulled last week's disputed presidential election. Crowds in Independence Square broke into chants and songs as the judges read their decision on live television, writes Chris Stephen in Kiev.
The decision appears to be an all- out victory for the opposition, who had called for an early rerun of the disputed election that is likely to be a shoo-in for their candidate, Mr Viktor Yushchenko.
Addressing crowds at Independence Square, Mr Yushchenko, wearing his trademark orange scarf, said: "I want to congratulate you because now Ukraine is a democratic and free country. Today we see a different nation with different people. Look at what was done in the last 12 days. You are real heroes today."
In the city centre, many of those clad in their orange scarves, hats and flags wept openly.
"We're so happy," said Ms Lilian Dzioba (22), part of a human chain formed to ensure a motorcade of opposition leaders could get to the square's centre. "Finally people stood up and became an opposition."
The decision comes the day after Ukraine's outgoing president, Mr Leonid Kuchma, agreed with President Vladimir Putin of Russia that there would be new elections in several months.
Opponents said the move was designed to give Mr Kuchma time to mount a fresh campaign, with a fresh candidate, after the discrediting of his favoured candidate, the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Yanukovich.
Judges of the court, having refused to give a verdict on the disputed poll in a week of deliberations, were expected by many to side with the government.
Hours before their verdict, opposition leaders said they were ready for a new round of protest, with blockades planned for government buildings across the country, to try to force early elections.
Instead, the Supreme Court has now short-circuited this argument.
The verdict, delivered by Judge Anatoly Yarema, rules out Mr Kuchma's call for a completely fresh election process on December 26th.
Instead, the first round of voting held in October, in which Mr Yushchenko and Mr Yanukovich tied, will remain on record, but the second round, official results of which gave Mr Yanukovich 49 per cent to Mr Yushchenko's 46 per cent, will be rerun.
"This is a great victory for all the people in the square. It's a great victory for democracy," said an opposition parliamentarian, Ms Mykola Katerinchuk. There was no reaction from the government last night, with Mr Kuchma locked in discussion with aides for five hours.
His options are limited with the court, to the surprise of many in this city, announcing that its decision is final and cannot be appealed.
His position, indeed his future in Ukraine, is now unclear. Mr Yushchenko has committed himself to putting Mr Kuchma on trial for the murder of an opposition journalist and on corruption charges.
It is also unclear whether Mr Yanukovich will stand again in the election rerun. Last week he accepted the office of president, only to be humiliated by the Supreme Court this week; on Wednesday parliament passed a vote of no confidence in his government.
Last night European Union officials in Kiev were scrambling to begin what will be a huge monitoring effort for the poll.
"We plan to flood the country with monitors," one diplomatic source said. "We had 600 for the last poll, but we're looking at 1,600 for the next one, a huge effort."
If confirmed, the result may bring to an end an extraordinary fortnight which has seen Ukraine emerge from Europe's shadows with a popular revolution even its own people were surprised by.
The so-called Orange Revolution has seen Kiev's city centre transformed into something between a protest and a carnival, with crowds of up to a quarter of a million demonstrating each day.