Protests as Tymoshenko fails by one vote to become Ukraine PM

UKRAINE:Ukraine's Byzantine battle for power took another bizarre twist yesterday, when Yulia Tymoshenko accused her main rival of sabotaging parliament's vote-counting machines after she failed by a single ballot to be approved as the new prime minister.

Parliament descended into chaos after two deputies claimed that the machines would not accept their electronic voting cards, and the Regions Party of incumbent premier Viktor Yanukovich responded by pouring scorn on Ms Tymoshenko's claim that it rigged the ballot.

"It's not the deputies that malfunctioned, it's the machine. It was programmed for 225 votes," said Volodymyr Filenko, an ally of Ms Tymoshenko, who needed 226 votes to return to the premier's post from which she was sacked by president Viktor Yushchenko in 2005.

"The Regions Party falsified the results of the vote, because they want to rule the country as long as they can," said a furious Ms Tymoshenko.

"We will vote again on my candidacy very soon, avoiding the use of electronic cards." As deputies inside parliament scuffled and threw glasses of water at each other, Ms Tymoshenko said: "Cheating like we saw today is only possible for a very short period of time. Our coalition is united. There can be no doubt we will form a government."

Parliamentary speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a member Mr Yushchenko's party, which is now allied with Ms Tymoshenko, reportedly wanted to call another vote on her candidacy but was blocked by members of the Regions Party, who allegedly took away his voting card and tampered with the microphones he needed to address the assembly.

The 227 deputies supposedly loyal to Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko were said to have agreed to support her return to the premiership, but the two leaders and their allies have a long history of mistrust and reneging on apparently watertight deals.

Mr Yushchenko dislikes Ms Tymoshenko's combative style, but also fears her as a potentially devastating rival for pro-western votes in presidential elections in 2010 or 2011.

Mr Yanukovich says he should continue as prime minister because his party won the most votes in September's election, and has not ruled out a coalition with his rivals.

"A coalition built on an advantage of two votes is no coalition," said senior Regions Party member Anna Herman. "Shame and mockery will be brought upon them every day if they fail to understand that we need a broad coalition in parliament."