Ukrainian Parliament declares election invalid

[Ma Deuce]

Ukraine's Parliament declares presidential run-off election invalid

Sat Nov 27,11:03 AM ET

YURUS KARMANAU

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's Parliament on Saturday declared the country's disputed presidential election invalid in a symbolic vote after a week of growing street protests and allegations of vote fraud.

The action - approved by 255 of the 429 legislators present - was not legally binding, but it was a clear demonstration of rising dissatisfaction. The legislators also passed a vote of no-confidence in the Central Elections Commission.

The commission has said Russian-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the Nov. 21 presidential election, but supporters of his western-leaning opponent Viktor Yushchenko have streamed into the streets, claiming he was cheated out of victory.

The no-confidence vote also was non-binding, but increases pressure on Yanukovych and his camp.

Negotiators from both camps were expected to meet for talks Saturday as part of a working group established by President Leonid Kuchma in consultation with European envoys on Friday.

Ukraine's Parliament has no legal capacity to directly affect the election results. But speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said, "The most realistic political decision, taking into account the mutual claims of massive violations, is to pronounce the elections invalid.

"The Central Election Commission discredited itself in the first round, undermining public trust in the institution as it is," Lytvyn added.

Outside, more than 7,000 opposition protesters encircled the building, chanting "Yushchenko!" Police stood near the building's entrances and watched.

Kuchma, the outgoing president, announced establishment of the working group Friday after a meeting he led with the two rivals and the delegation of European envoys.

Prospects for a resolution of the crisis by the group, made up of four people from each campaign, appeared slim.

Yushchenko told a cheering crowd that he was insisting on a new election and he would give the talks with his rival two days at most to yield results.

Yanukovych aide Stepan Havrysh, who was to participate on behalf of the prime minister, said he thought it might be possible to reach an agreement within two days.

"Kuchma and Yanukovych want to drag out time," said Ivan Plyushch, one of four Yushchenko supporters who were to participate in the working group. "But if in the next two days the situation doesn't develop, we'll return to active measures." Plyushch refused to elaborate.

Havrysh said the prime minister's team would make no further comments until the working group had reached a decision.

Yushchenko told his supporters that he would insist on a repeat election Dec. 12. He also demanded that the membership of the Central Election Commission be changed, absentee balloting be prohibited, the candidates be given equal access to the media and that international observers participate.

The Unian news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko as saying Friday that Moscow regarded a potential revote favourably - an apparent significant retreat from its earlier insistence that the elections were fair and valid.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have massed in the Ukrainian capital all week to protect what they insist was Yushchenko's election victory. Rising temperatures and wet snow on Saturday left their sprawling tent camp along a main avenue and the central Independence Square in a sea of slush, and many Yushchenko supporters - clad in orange rain ponchos - were trudging down the street with plastic bags tied around their shoes.



"I am not hopeful and don't have faith in talks, so I plan to stand on the square until the end," said Ruslan Pokatai, 23, of Sumy. He has already spent five nights in the freezing cold but said he was willing to wait longer if it would mean Yushchenko becomes president.

Tens of thousands of Yanukovych supporters rallied in Donetsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, to call for a referendum to grant the region autonomy. Calls in the region for greater autonomy in the case of a Yushchenko presidency have intensified in recent days.

At the end of the rally, a man in his 50s tried to pour gasoline on the stage and set it afire, but strong winds blew some onto his clothes and he ended up setting himself ablaze. He was taken to hospital.

Yanukovych's Party of Regions scheduled an urgent session in the eastern city of Luhansk for Sunday to discuss autonomy, legislator Anatoliy Blyzniuk told protesters gathered there.

"Some 15 million people have said: Yanukovych is our president," he said. "It is not just that (Luhansk) region, it is the entire southeast of the country that wants that (autonomy) option."

It was from Ukraine's pro-Russian, heavily industrialized eastern half that Yanukovych drew his support, while Yushchenko's stronghold was the west, a traditional centre of nationalism. Many Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east fear a Yushchenko presidency would make them second-class citizens.

Moscow considers this nation of 48 million part of its sphere of influence and a buffer between Russia and NATO (news - web sites)'s eastern flank. Canada, the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) have said they cannot accept the results and warned Ukraine of "consequences" in relations with the West.

[K. A. Pital]

In the Higher Rada the opposition has the majority of voices. On a side note, the vote was not symbolic - there were about 11 points, each of them voted for separately, each was a recommendation for the government on how to resolve the situation.

Actually, the Higher Rada approved the advice to stop street demonstrations for both opposition and government. Even the opposition leaders have said that people should go rest. But until now the streets are still full.

It was from Ukraine's pro-Russian, heavily industrialized eastern half that Yanukovych drew his support

Yes, exactly. I should also note that this part of Ukraine is the source of 80% of Ukraine's GDP.
So if the crisis will lead to a breakoff, it's really interesting what Yuschenko will be left with (Western Ukraine? ). It's sort of understood he does not want to lose the industrial east. But neither wants Yanukovich to lose the west.

[The Dark]

It will also be interesting, though, because the West is what feeds the East. If there is a split, the East will have to import large amounts of food, which may boost the West's GDP, as it will cause the worldwide market for foodstuffs to grow, raising food prices slightly but significantly globally. Hmmm...that could really hurt the EU with their agricultural target price tariff, since it'll be harder for them to block imports if the worldwide price is closer to the price they attempt to maintain for domestic producers.

[Vympel]

Kiev is not Ukraine

An interesting part of the article is the gall the opposition leader had to swear himself in, un-officially.

[Col. Crackpot]

wow, one party votes not to recognize the validity of an election "won" by a member of the opposition party. Next you'll be telling me that Congressional Democrats don't like George Bush.

[Ma Deuce]

Now even Kuchma and Yanukovich are grudgingly admitting that it may be necessary to start over with another election in order to relolve this crisis...