Ukraine's outgoing president accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich today, but the country remained in political limbo during a drawn-out transition after last month's election.
Liberal Viktor Yushchenko, who defeated Yanukovich in a rerun election after demonstrations against an earlier vote that was rigged, met reporters at a mountain retreat but gave no clues about plans to staff a new government.
Viktor Yushchenko
"We will count on new names," was all he would say.
The election commission met to finalise results that could at last see Yushchenko confirmed president. The Supreme Court said it would meet tomorrow to hear an appeal by Yanukovich, and other court cases could follow.
There is little doubt Yushchenko will take power some time this month. But the official result has been held up by legal challenges mounted by Yanukovich, who has vowed to fight the outcome even though he says he has no hope of success.
"There was no need to torture the nation for so long," Yushchenko told reporters at Tysovets, a resort in Western Ukraine's Carpathian mountains where he is holidaying with his political ally Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Saakashvili also came to power on a wave of protests that followed a rigged election, and the two have stood side by side.
"The Ukrainian and Georgian revolutions represent a new wave of Europe's liberation and will lead to the final victory of democracy in Europe," they said in a joint statement.