well now its Moscow’s turn to refuse the election results…what a joke with democracy…
Moscow refuses to accept poll results
December 30, 2004
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A fresh crisis in relations between Russia and the West over Ukraine has threatened to erupt after Moscow said international monitors who gave the country’s presidential election a clean bill of health were not objective, just as European leaders hailed the result.
The Russian statement, the first from Moscow since the weekend’s election results were announced, suggested that the Kremlin might refuse to recognise the victory of Viktor Yushchenko, who led the “orange revolution”.
Ukraine’s government called off a meeting at its headquarters yesterday after hundreds of demonstrators massed outside to prevent the Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovich, the defeated candidate, from entering the building.
Mr Yushchenko had called the session illegal and urged his supporters to prevent the cabinet meeting from going ahead.
Mr Yushchenko won the election by more than 2.2 million votes, by 51.99 per cent to 44.19 per cent, the Ukrainian central election commission said.
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AdvertisementBut Mr Yanukovich has refused to concede defeat, claiming that there were huge violations and that 5 million old and sick voters could not make it to the polls because of questionable electoral regulations.
Despite a pre-election pledge by President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would recognise Sunday’s poll, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated Mr Yanukovich’s complaints and added that Western observers “preferred in their report not to record these facts”.
An observer mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States - which is politically dominated by Russia - also reported that it had found evidence of huge electoral fraud that favoured Mr Yushchenko.
The wrangling may derail attempts to bring a swift end to Ukraine’s protracted political crisis and may usher in a new crisis in already strained relations between the West and Moscow. It came despite European countries welcoming the elections.
The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, wrote Mr Yuschenko a message of congratulations, saying: “I am convinced that Ukraine under your leadership will continue to forcefully pursue its course towards democracy and a market economy under the rule of law.”
A French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman described the result as “a decisive step for Ukraine on the road of democracy”.
The EU’s Dutch presidency said: “The European Union is looking forward to a new phase in Ukraine’s development.”
Mr Yanukovich has vowed to appeal the results to Ukraine’s Supreme Court, citing alleged widespread fraud and voter disenfranchisement due to changes in the election laws.
Even as the disputes cast a pall over Mr Yushchenko’s victory, he was seeking to mend fences with Moscow. In interviews with Russian newspapers he said he regarded Russia as a strategic partner.
He told Rossiskaya Gazeta: “Kiev has to say openly that Russia is our close neighbour, our strategic partner, and we need to integrate with it, but the Western market interests us and that doesn’t contradict our relations with Moscow.”
Mr Yushchenko’s victory cannot be certified until the legal challenges submitted by Mr Yanukovich are ruled on, which may take several days.
Since it became clear that he was set to lose, Mr Yanukovich has accused America and western Europe of engineering his rival’s victory.
He told the Russian newspaper Izvestia: “The American influence in the Ukrainian elections was systematic and planned. I consider that to be interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs.”
However, several ministers in the Ukrainian Government threw in their lot with Mr Yushchenko in a sign the political tide could be moving in his favour.
Meanwhile, there was speculation that Heorhiy Kyrpa, the Ukrainian Transport Minister and a successful businessman, found shot dead at his dacha on Monday, was killed by gangsters.
The Telegraph, London; Agence France-Presse