Powell Warns Ukraine over 'Result'
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KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's election commission declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of a hotly contested presidential runoff, but U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell quickly dismissed the contest as marred by fraud.
Pro-Moscow Yanukovych had 49.46 percent of the vote while opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko was named on 46.61 of the ballots, the commission said Wednesday.
Speaking in Washington, Powell urged Ukraine's leaders to "respond immediately" warning "there will be consequences" for the United States' relationship with Ukraine.
The final official results failed to disperse the thousands of Yushchenko supporters who have packed the capital's Independence Square for the past three days in freezing temperatures and blowing snow, hoping to hear that their man would win.
Singers continued to perform on a stage, and orange banners and flags, the color of the opposition party, waved above the hat-covered heads of the protesters.
In an impassioned speech to the crowds before the commission's announcement, Yushchenko called the results "fraudulent" and suggested that new balloting be held - but only, he said, if the commission would be honest.
A small group of pro-government marchers rallied around the Central Election Commission's imposing white limestone building, waving blue and white flags in support of Yanukovych.
Ukraine's outgoing president has offered to hold talks to end the crisis, but a Yushchenko ally said the only thing to discuss was a transfer of power to the opposition leader.
"We are ready to negotiate only about the peaceful handing over of power to Yushchenko," Mykola Tomenko said.
President Leonid Kuchma called for negotiations late Tuesday, saying the opposition's actions amounted to a "political farce" that could lead to "serious consequences," according to news reports.
Kuchma said authorities would not be the first to use force but would uphold law and order.
A Yushchenko spokesman said earlier the opposition was prepared in theory to take part in talks.
In an interview with CNN's Jill Dougherty ahead of the commission's announcement, Yuschenko called the results "fraudulent" but promised there would be no violence from the thousands of demonstrators in Kiev's main square. (Full story)
Yuschenko then told supporters he was prepared to rerun the election provided it was overseen by honest officials.
"We are ready to have a repeat of the second round vote provided we have an honest Central Election Commission," Reuters quoted Yushchenko as saying.
Yushchenko warned Tuesday that Ukraine could descend into civil war if the election results he called "a sham" are not annulled and he is not named president.
The Ukrainian election commission announced late Monday that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had a slim but unassailable lead over Yushchenko, prompting demonstrations from the capital Kiev to the nationalist center Lviv in the west.
Yushchenko - and U.S. and European election observers - said the vote was fraudulent. Kiev, Lviv and several other cities announced they would not accept the results of the vote and would recognize only Yushchenko as the winner.
On Tuesday, Yushchenko led up to 200,000 protesters in a march on Ukraine's parliament demanding authorities admit they cheated in the election.
Parliamentary deputies held an emergency session to debate opposition calls to annul the vote and pass a no-confidence vote against the election commission. But the chamber lacked enough members for a quorum.
The politicians spoke anyway, as demonstrators watched on a large television screen set up outside.
When Yushchenko stepped before the cameras, the crowd outside parliament roared its approval.
After the session ended, Yushchenko symbolically swore the oath of office on a Bible. The country's constitution, however, stipulates that the president swears allegiance on a copy of the constitution.
Lawmakers chanted "Bravo, Mr. President!" as demonstrators outside the building chanted his last name, waving orange flags representing Yushchenko's party.
Should parliament pass a no-confidence vote against the election commission, the matter would go to the Supreme Court, which could then annul the vote in some areas, including some in which as much as 95 percent of the vote was reported cast for Yanukovych.
Kiev's main square has been marked by a near-total absence of police officers. But demonstrators Tuesday faced phalanxes of riot police during a march to the presidential administration building, AP said.
Protest organizers formed a human chain to keep demonstrators away from police, and officers backed up to avoid a confrontation.
Meanwhile, supporters of Yanukovych have become increasingly visible in Kiev, setting up tents not far from the opposition's larger encampment. They shouted their candidate's name and denounced Yushchenko.
A small group of pro-government marchers rallied around the election commission's imposing white limestone building, waving blue and white flags in support of Yanukovych.
Western Criticism
Yushchenko, a pro-Western liberal, and Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fought a bitterly contested runoff battle.
On Monday, the election commission said that with 99.38 percent of precincts counted, Yanukovych had 49.42 percent to Yushchenko's 46.70 percent.
However, an exit poll conducted under a Western-funded program gave Yushchenko 54 percent of the vote to Yanukovych's 43 percent. Another poll put Yushchenko ahead by 49.4 to 45.9 percent.
Western observers criticized the balloting, and on Wednesday European leaders stepped up pressure on Ukraine to review the results. (Full story)
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, normally a close ally of Putin, said the election showed what he called massive fraud, Reuters reported, while EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Ukraine was at a crossroads and could turn violent.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned of "consequences" for the EU's political and trade relations with Ukraine if the government there does not allow a full review of the election results, AP reported.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer summoned the Ukraine ambassador Wednesday to express the alliance's disappointment, and Ukraine's ambassador to the European Union was called to appear before the European Parliament on Wednesday to defend the election, AP reported.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II told Ukrainian pilgrims he was praying for their country in a "special way."
And in Washington, the White House issued a statement saying the United States is "deeply disturbed by extensive and credible indications of fraud committed in the Ukrainian presidential election."
However, Putin has congratulated Yanukovych on his victory, and the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament denounced the Ukrainian opposition Wednesday for its "illegal actions," AP reported.
Putin, traveling in Portugal, called the observers' criticism "inadmissible" and said through an interpreter that Ukraine "doesn't need to be lectured," AP reported.
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CNN's Jill Dougherty and Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report.
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