Ukraine: Elections or Emergency Rule?

[Magda Hassan]

The Gas Queen has called off the election challenge. :fight:

Ukraine Prime Minister Drops Election Challenge



By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
Published: February 20, 2010
MOSCOW — Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko of Ukraine effectively conceded the presidential election on Saturday by withdrawing her legal challenge to the results, saying that she did not believe that she would get a fair hearing.
Valentin Ogirenko/European Pressphoto Agency
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko attended a Supreme Administrative Court session in Kiev on Saturday before accusing the high court of prejudice against her.




Her decision clears the way for the inauguration on Thursday of the winner, Viktor F. Yanukovich, the opposition leader, capping a comeback for him. Mr. Yanukovich was the loser in the 2004 Orange Revolution, when he was criticized as a Kremlin pawn who did not want Ukraine to become more democratic and pro-Western.
Mr. Yanukovich has sought to refashion his image in recent years, vowing to improve relations with both the European Union and Russia.
It was not immediately clear on Saturday whether the court in Kiev would formally allow Ms. Tymoshenko to cancel her appeal. It may go ahead with the proceedings and issue a ruling against her.
Speaking at the court, Ms. Tymoshenko was defiant, and her party said it would boycott Mr. Yanukovich’s inauguration.
“Sooner or later, an honest prosecutor’s office and an honest court will assess that Yanukovich was not elected president of Ukraine, and that the will of the people was fabricated,” she said.
The end of Ms. Tymoshenko’s challenge is expected to bring about a relatively peaceful transfer of power in Ukraine, a little more than five years after the mass Orange protests broke out over the last disputed presidential election.
Still, Ms. Tymoshenko, an Orange leader, remains prime minister, and has rejected Mr. Yanukovich’s demand that she resign. He intends to put together a coalition in parliament to dismiss her or, if that fails, to call parliamentary elections, which could create more political instability.
Ms. Tymoshenko had refused to concede the Feb. 7 elections, which she lost by 3.48 percentage points, asserting that Mr. Yanukovich had won only because his campaign had engaged in widespread fraud. Yanukovich aides had described her accusations as phony and desperate.
European election monitors had called the election honest and fair, and many world leaders, including President Obama, have congratulated Mr. Yanukovich.
In announcing her legal challenge, Ms. Tymoshenko had promised not to organize demonstrations, acknowledging that Ukrainians were disillusioned from years of political turmoil.
As it began evaluating Ms. Tymoshenko’s case on Friday, the Higher Administrative Court in Kiev rejected her petition to scrutinize documents from election districts in the Crimean Peninsula, a Yanukovich stronghold, and also to question election and law-enforcement officials.
On Saturday, Ms. Tymoshenko went to the court and announced that she did not see any point in continuing, suggesting that the judges were biased against her.
“It became clear that the court is not out to establish the truth,” she said.
She also attacked the court for not permitting the proceedings to be broadcast.
Ms. Tymoshenko had earned fame in the Orange Revolution, which occurred after supporters of Mr. Yanukovich were accused of stealing the 2004 presidential elections. A court threw out the results, and Viktor A. Yushchenko was victorious in a new election over Mr. Yanukovich.
Ms. Tymoshenko had charged that with the 2010 presidential election, Mr. Yanukovich’s campaign had once again relied upon dirty tricks. But analysts had indicated that Ms. Tymoshenko was unlikely to prevail in court, given the margin of Mr. Yanukovich’s victory and the election monitors’ assessment.