2 minutes ago
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Europe - AP |
Posted on 11/24/2004 11:42:25 AM PST by BJClinton
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2 minutes ago
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By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer
KIEV, Ukraine - Election officials declared Wednesday that the Kremlin-backed prime minister won Ukraine's bitterly disputed presidential runoff balloting, prompting opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to call for a nationwide strike to protest what his camp contends was brazen vote fraud.
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Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said Wednesday the United States does not consider the results of the elections to be legitimate. He challenged leaders of the former Soviet
bloc nation "to decide whether they are on the side of democracy or not."
"If the Ukrainian government does not act immediately and responsibly there will be consequences for our relationship, for Ukraine's hopes for a Euro-Atlantic integration and for individuals responsible for perpetrating fraud," Powell said.
The announcement of the victory by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych raised fears of violence in the capital, where tens of thousands of opposition supporters have rallied for three straight days and riot police guarded key government buildings.
"With this decision, they want to put us on our knees," Yushchenko, a pro-Western reformer, told his followers massed in Independence Square, as the crowd chanted: "Shame! Shame!"
"My actions to combat the current regime will be even more consistent and powerful," he pledged.
Yushchenko called for an "all-Ukraine national strike," stopping work at businesses, schools and universities and a stoppage of transport. "Thus, we'll force the authorities to think about what they are doing," he said.
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Slip sliding.....
Believe it or not, Soros is backing the good guy.
Just happens that soros usually supports good guys when it is about exUSSR, somehow he can't seem to understand who to support here in USA..
The "good" guy wants to pull Ukrainian troops out of Iraq and is very pro-EU.
Ditto that ...
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12 minutes ago
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KIEV (Reuters) - Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma said on Wednesday that Ukraine faced the threat of civil war over its disputed presidential election and urged the world community not to interfere in the row.
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Addressing a meeting of regional leaders, shown on state television, Kuchma referred to the civil war which followed the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and said this "could well become a reality at the present time."
He said he had asked both Viktor Yanukovich, declared the election winner, and challenger Viktor Yushchenko to hold talks "and asked the world community to refrain from direct interference in Ukraine's internal affairs. We are hearing appeals from our strategic partners to re-examine the outcome of the election campaign."
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7 minutes ago
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KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine lurched deeper into political chaos as the opposition called a general strike and rejected results handing victory in the country's disputed presidential vote to its pro-Russia prime minister.
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As the declared winner, Viktor Yanukovich, offered talks to ease the crisis gripping Ukraine, his bitter rival Viktor Yushchenko urged civil disobedience and supporters said they would take their case to the supreme court.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said it could not accept the result as "legitimate" as the vote had not met international standards and there had been no investigation of widespread reports of fraud and abuse.
Echoing calls earlier by European leaders, he demanded a "full review" of the way the election was held and how the votes were counted.
Yanukovich said talks would begin Thursday with Yushchenko's team, but it was not clear if the two leaders themselves would meet.
"Tomorrow we will begin negotiations with Yushchenko's team, we will try to find a common language," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
"I would like to listen to their offers," he said, adding that he would not "like them (the opposition) to feel cheated."
Yushchenko's team had already Tuesday refused talks, saying the government should first admit it had rigged the vote.
In Kiev, the central electoral commission said Yanukovich had won Sunday's run-off election over the West-leaning Yushchenko by 49.46 percent compared to 46.61 percent, a difference of nearly one million votes.
Stepan Havrish, Yanukovich's representative on the commission, said he "won absolutely fairly. Everything happened in absolute conformity with the laws of political logic."
Opposition supporters promptly marched on the commission, where Yushchenko, for the second time in two days, warned of a potential for "civil conflict."
He claims the government rigged the vote and is demanding a re-run of the second round or for the results to be annulled in disputed regions.
"The illegal decision of the electoral commission has placed Ukraine on the verge of civil conflict," he told tens of thousands of supporters massed onto Kiev's central Independence Square.
To roars of approval from the crowd, he declared a "political strike in the whole of Ukraine" with the aim of blocking roads, airports and railways.
"We are going to look for a solution in an open battle," Yushchenko added. "The government wants an escalation of the conflict, it has rejected political dialogue."
"The legal means to resolve this problem have been exhausted. The street will now speak," an opposition deputy, Petro Poroshenko, told reporters after the commission's announcement.
However, another opposition leader, Yulia Timoshenko, said an appeal would be lodged at the supreme court on Thursday.
Powell, who earlier spoke to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and warned against any resort to violence, said there was still time to reach a peaceful resolution.
With security forces guarding his presidency, Kuchma -- who had hand-picked Yanukovich as his successor -- ruled out the use of force.
"As acting president, I categorically reject the use of any kind of force," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Concern mounted in western Europe, with the European Union (news - web sites) saying the poll was marred by "massive fraud" and urging a delay in the final election results pending a review.
The Dutch EU presidency and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, whose country borders Ukraine, both said they were sending special envoys to Kiev in view of the situation.
The vote has split Ukraine, with the mainly nationalist, Ukrainian-speaking west supporting Yushchenko and the more industrialized, Russian-speaking east backing Yanukovich.
It has also exposed a Cold War-style rift between Russia, which is backing Yanukovich and insists the election was fair, and much of the West, which says it was riddled with fraud.
European Commission (news - web sites) chief Jose Manuel Barroso warned of "consequences" for the bloc's relations with Ukraine because of the impasse, now overshadowing a summit Thursday with Russia in The Hague (news - web sites).
NATO (news - web sites) chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to voice the alliance's "disappointment and deep concern over the current events," and called for all disputes related to the poll results "to be fully examined."
The opposition sees this as perhaps its best chance in a generation to pull the nation of 48 million people, the most populous of the ex-Soviet republics, out of Russia's grasp.
The graphic divide has prompted some politicians to warn that Ukraine might split in two, with more than 150 Ukrainian diplomats posted around the world recognising Yushchenko as the new president.
>"and asked the world community to refrain from direct >interference in Ukraine's internal affairs."
Don't let commies keep power! Get more pressure on Putin and Kuchma - people hate thier guts in Ukraine.
Ping
I guess they'll learn to hate chirac and soros.
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