Yanukovich ahead in ACTUAL vote tally

[Ulysses]

Yushchenko won 3 exit polls but it seems like Yanuck may "win" the actual vote tally.

Created: 22.11.2004 02:50 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 02:52 MSK, 1 hour 52 minutes ago

MosNews

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has opened up a lead of nearly six percentage points over liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko after 26 percent of the votes were counted in Ukraine▓s decisive presidential election, Russian media reported.

The first official results in the presidential election were announced early on Monday, with Ukraine▓s top election official, Serhiy Kivalov, announcing to journalists that Yanukovich had won 51.17 of the vote to Yushchenko▓s 45.44 percent, RIA Novosti reported.

The tally was based on 26.1 percent of the votes cast in Sunday▓s poll, or about 5.75 million ballots.

Reuters reported, however, that early tallies tend to include results from Russian-speaking industrial eastern Ukraine, where the prime minister is heavily favored.

The final result of the Ukrainian ⌠National■ exit poll put liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko on 54 percent, with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich on 43 percent. Three percent voted against both candidates, Gazeta.Ru reported.

The Central Elections Commission has announced that the turnout, based on figures from 204 of the 225 electoral commissions from around the country, stands at 79.02.

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Ukraine gripped by standoff as opposition cries foul over vote outcome

40 minutes ago


KIEV (AFP) - A tense standoff gripped Ukraine after its pro-Russia prime minister won the presidential runoff, with the opposition mounting massive protests to contest results of a vote that Washington and Europe said was rigged by the state.


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Slideshow: Ukraine Elections




As tens of thousands of opposition supporters massed in Kiev, the capital's city council refused to recognize the official results and urged parliament to follow suit.


Two cities in the opposition-dominated west, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivks, also refused to recognise the results, sparking fears that Sunday's election could further polarize the deeply divided country.


With 99.38 percent of polling stations reporting, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich had secured 49.42 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 for his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko, the central electoral commission said.


Yushchenko, however, has refused to concede.


"We are launching an organised movement of civil resistance. The campaign is only just beginning. Don't leave Independence Square until victory," he told a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters massed in a central square in Kiev.


Yushchenko, who exit polls showed had comfortably led the vote, denounced a "total falsification" of the runoff results.


Yanukovich responded with an appearance on state television, calling on the demonstrators to go home while offering an olive branch to the opposition, saying that he would take the opposition's views into account during his reign.


"I understand and respect your choice and your right to your own political position," Interfax quoted Yanukovich as saying.


"Your view of Ukraine's future will definitely be taken into account by the new leadership of Ukraine," Yanukovich said.


Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), on a state visit to Brazil, meanwhile called Yanukovich to congratulate him on his "decisive" victory, the Kremlin said.


But Western observers slammed the vote, the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe saying the election did not "meet a considerable number of OSCE (news - web sites) commitments and Council of Europe and other European standards for democratic elections."


"It is now apparent that a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," said Senator Richard Lugar, the senior US observer.


The United States said the run-off was marred by "very disturbing patterns of abuse" and threatened Kiev with sanctions unless the deficiencies are resolved in the post-election period.


"The United States is deeply concerned over the elections in Ukraine," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "There are reports of widespread abuse and fraud in the second round of Ukraine's presidential elections.


US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) had warned Kuchma that Washington would review its relations with Ukraine if the presidential vote was not fair.


The election sparked intense rivalry between Washington and Moscow, with the West seeing Ukraine as a buffer with an increasingly authoritarian Russia.


Europe also expressed its concern, with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, calling on Ukrainian authorities to "review" the second round poll result.

"We are very concerned about the news we have had about the outcome," said Bot in Brussels.

The opposition, buoyed by exit polls released late Sunday night, quickly went on the offensive against any voting fraud by mobilizing a wave of popular protest.

It urged thousands of its supporters to keep up a vigil in Kiev's main square, where tens of thousands of people -- nearly all sporting the opposition's orange color -- had converged by Monday night.

The central square was jam-packed with people in the chilly temperatures as the crowds danced around to rock-performing bands.

The disputed results heightened fears of a violent standoff between the opposition and the government of this strategic ex-Soviet state.

Kuchma, who has anointed his prime minister as his chosen successor as he steps down after 10 years of strong-arm rule, had warned prior to the vote that there would be "no revolution" and vowed to maintain public order.

Special riot police had been deployed to seal off the presidency, a stone's throw away from Independence Square.

Yushchenko is calling for peaceful protests to force the Soviet-era regime to acknowledge his victory, alleging widespread ballot-rigging, particularly in the Russian-speaking industrialized east where his support is weak.

The vote was seen as one of the most important in eastern Europe since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and will determine whether this nation of nearly 50 million turns toward Europe or remains under Moscow's shadow.

The central electoral commission has until December 6 to announce the final vote count.

The opposition accuses the government of inflating the turnout in Donetsk, an eastern coal-mining area where the prime minister hails from, which reached 96 percent according to the electoral commission, and in neighbouring Lugansk.

The nationwide turnout was 79 percent.

The nationalist Ukrainian-speaking west and centre supports 50-year-old Yushchenko while the industrialized Russian-speaking east is favourable to 54-year-old Yanukovich.

Yushchenko wants to move towards membership of the European Union (news - web sites) and the US-led NATO (news - web sites) military alliance, while Yanukovich has pledged to make Russian a second official language and allow dual citizenship.

Putin had backed Yanukovich, twice visiting Ukraine during the election campaign and meeting with the prime minister in a show of support.


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