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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=13&u=/afp/20041227/ts_afp/ukrainevotesceneschedlead_041227042914

Orange celebration as Yushchenko claims 'clean' victory in Ukraine vote

KIEV, (AFP) - Jubilant Ukraine opposition supporters massed once again in Kiev's central Independence Square as their hero Viktor Yushchenko claimed victory in a landmark presidential vote rerun and proclaimed that their country was now both independent and free.

"This is a unique, clean political victory," the 50-year-old Yushchenko said as he addressed the crowd from a stage on the square.

"It is an elegant victory, where the people have demonstrated their might. The people stood up to what may be the most cynical regime in eastern Europe. And today the Ukrainian nation, the Ukrainian people, have won," Yushchenko told the cheering crowd.

"For 14 years we have been independent but not free," he said, adding that today Ukraine was both.

The square, the main rendez-vous point where hundreds of thousands of pro-Yushchenko protesters massed for weeks to proclaim their rejection of a November 21 election officially won by his opponent but riddled with fraud and later thrown out, began filling up soon after polls closed in the repeat election on Sunday.

In his address there in the early hours of Monday, Yushchenko again called on his supporters to remain in the square until he was officially certified as the winner of the election.

Fireworks erupted over some 50,000 people who had massed in the square late Sunday under a huge Christmas tree festooned in blinking lights, and although the size of the crowd fluctuated the sounds of car horns, music and fireworks could be heard in central Kiev through the night.

"I came here to celebrate our victory," said Andrei, who said he had come from the central city of Krivyi Rig to help make the revolution a reality and wanted to be present in the square.

The square itself has come to be known as "maidan" (pronounced MY-Don), a Ukrainian word that literally means "square" but that has become synonymous with the opposition "orange revolution" that has shaken this nation to the core 13 years after its independence from the Soviet Union.

Waving orange opposition flags and Ukraine's blue and yellow standard, the crowd danced and frequently broke out into the "Yu-shchen-ko!" chants that have become as common in Kiev as the orange color of his campaign.

Cars filled with Yushchenko supporters drove around Kiev, with people hanging out the windows, holding up orange flags and screaming "Yu-shchen-ko!" as the vehicles beeped the three honks to the rhythm of the chant.

Three exit polls gave the Western-leaning Yushchenko a commanding lead of 15 to 20 points over his pro-Russian rival, Viktor Yanukovich, whom Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) backed ahead of the November 21 election.

That projection was born out with early official returns which gave Yushchenko a comfortable 56 percent to 40 percent lead over Yanukovich with more than 60 percent of the country's voting precincts reporting their results.

"Putin hasn't congratulated Yanukovich yet because even Putin understands that you can't stop freedom," Mykola Tomenko, a deputy in Yushchenko's Our Ukraine coalition, told the cheering crowd, in reference to the congratulations the Russian leader sent Yanukovich after an earlier, contested ballot.

"We have to help people in former Soviet republics carry out their revolutions," Tomenko said to approving roars.

Nearly three weeks of demonstrations after the contested November ballot attracted broad support that stunned even the opposition and brought the capital to a virtual halt, as protestors blockaded key government buildings.

Santa Clauses with orange scarves walked around the plaza as the huge speakers mounted around a stage in the center blared songs that have become anthems of the "orange revolution".