Ukraine's presidential election was rigged in some regions and this has been proven legally, a Ukrainian first deputy prime minister said Wednesday.
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich narrowly won Ukraine's presidential election with 48.95% of the vote, with his rival Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko garnering 45.47% of the vote, 3.48 points behind Yanukovich, according to preliminary results announced on Wednesday after election authorities finished counting ballots following Sunday's runoff.
"I have the authority to announce the first legally proven falsifications in the interest of Yanukovich in the Ukrainian presidential election runoff," Oleksandr Turchynov, who also heads Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko's election headquarters, said in a statement posted on Timoshenko's website.
"In particular, in the 5th electoral district [city of Kerch] we managed to initiate the first recount at the 20th polling station despite resistance from Yanukovich's representatives," he said, adding that data submitted to the Central Election Commission gave Yanukovich 8% more votes that he actually received.
Supporters of Timoshenko earlier demanded a recount, saying they had evidence of violations at hundreds of polling stations, including in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as in the Crimea.
The Dnepropetrovsk city headquarters of Timoshenko said Yanukovich's Party of Regions members brought voters to polling stations in vans and campaigning for Yanukovich was still underway although it was forbidden. It also said supporters of Timoshenko were prevented from arriving at polling stations.
Yanukovich's supporters, in turn, accused Timoshenko of rigging in Ukraine's west where she has more support.
The official results have yet to be announced, although the completed count gave Yanukovich the plurality of votes required to win.
Yanukovich's victory could shift the country's foreign policy back toward Russia and away from the pro-Western course pursued by outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko.
Yushchenko, swept to power by the "orange revolution" that overturned Yanukovich's victory in 2004, was eliminated from the first round of the January 17 election with a mere 5% of the popular vote.
Source: Agencies
Kavkaz Center
