The Central Election Commission announced in Kyiv that opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko was the official winner in Ukraine's repeat presidential vote on 26 December
Published:
29 December 2004 y., Wednesday
A reformist widely regarded as pro-Western by pundits at home and abroad, Yushchenko defeated Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych 51.99 percent to 44.19 percent, Reuters and Interfax news agency reported.
Ballots were reportedly cast against both candidates by 2.34 percent of voters.
Yanukovych vowed last night to mount a legal challenge to the results of the election as returns showed his reformist opponent with an insurmountable lead.
"I will never recognize this defeat because there were violations of the constitution and of human rights in our country," Yanukovych said last night.
Yanukovych stressed that he has not urged his supporters to mount public demonstrations, AP reported. The Yanukovych campaign team has collected almost 5,000 complaints so far concerning the fairness of the balloting, the prime minister told reporters.
Yanukovych criticized election-law reforms passed between the abortive runoff and the 26 December vote that restricted home voting, which was blamed for some of the fraud that marred the November vote. That restriction was nullified by the Constitutional Court on the eve of the ballot.
Candidates have seven days to appeal from the release of the final preliminary tally.
Šaltinis:
rferl.org
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
At the European Union‘s General Affairs Council meeting on 7 December in Brussels, Lithuania‘s Minister of Foreign Affairs and his counterparts discussed preparation of the European Council scheduled for 10–11 December, as well as a work programme prepared by the trio of future EU presidencies: Spain, Belgium and Hungary.
more »
On December 9, Wednesday, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will receive Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.
more »
In the meeting with leaders of parliamentary groups of the Seimas, President of the Republic of Lithuania D. Grybauskaitė underlined that the state budget for 2010 would decide whether Lithuania would manage to overcome the economic downturn or, on the contrary, fall deeper into it, and urged all political forces to assume political responsibility.
more »
On 8–9 December, Vilnius will host consultations among the U.S.A., Italy, Spain, and Lithuania - the four countries which lead Provincial Reconstruction Teams under the Regional Command West of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations to President Tarja Kaarina Halonen of Finland on the occasion of Independence Day.
more »
Continuing his official visit to India, today Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas together with Economy Minister Dainius Kreivys and a business delegation of 28 members arrived in Mumbai, India’s financial centre.
more »
On 2-5 December, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas is paying an official visit to India.
more »
During the plenary session of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 1 December in Athens, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Ušackas stressed the importance of the dialogue on European security for strengthening the mutual confidence of the participating States.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received Ambassador of the United States of America to Lithuania, Anne Elizabeth Derse.
more »
On 26 November in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas met with Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia David Bakradze, who is on a visit to Lithuania.
more »