EARTH TIMES

15 February 2010

Kiev - (DPA) -- A representative of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she would take legal action Tuesday to overturn the presidential vote in which her rival Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner. Tymoshenko intends to sue the Central Election Commission (CEC) for failing to recognize fraud and for falsely declaring former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner in the February 7 poll, her chief of staff Oleksandr Turchinov told a news conference in Kiev.

"The suit will be filed tomorrow," he said. "We want the hearings to be televised, and we hope the court will agree with us."

The CEC on Sunday declared Yanukovych, a pro-Russia politician closely allied with Ukrainian big business, the winner, saying he had captured 48.95 per cent of votes cast against Tymoshenko's 45.47 per cent.

Evidence supporting Tymoshenko's case that she should have won would include testimony by former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchiuk and video footage of vote fraud, Turchinov said.

Yanukovych has dismissed Tymoshenko's chances of successfully challenging his victory and has called on her to concede defeat "to reduce political tensions in the country ... and allow the nation to go forward."

Officials for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the lead agency in a 3,300-member international election monitoring effort during the election, on Monday repeated past praise of the vote giving Yanukovych victory.

"The professional, transparent and honest voting and counting should serve as a solid foundation for a peaceful transition of power," said Joao Soares, the head of the OSCE 500-member election observer mission during the election.

The OSCE had no evidence of major vote-rigging, Soares said, in a statement made public in Copenhagen on Monday.

"As a candidate, Yulia Tymoshenko has the right to submit any complaints about the election to the court, but the OSCE does not have any video evidence of election fraud as she (Tymoshenko) reportedly claimed in a speech last Saturday," Soares said.