Ukraine Premier Is Named Winner; U.S. Assails Move

NY Times ^ | November 25, 2004 | C. J. CHIVERS

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The government of Ukraine on Wednesday ignored reports of widespread government fraud in Sunday's election and certified the current prime minister as president-elect, moves Secretary of State Colin L. Powell swiftly condemned. With unrest growing on the streets here, the declared loser called for a general strike and a new election.

"If the Ukrainian government does not act immediately and responsibly, there will be consequences for our relationship, for Ukraine's hopes for a Euro-Atlantic integration and for individuals responsible for perpetrating fraud," Mr. Powell said in Washington. "We cannot accept this result as legitimate."

The decision by President Leonid D. Kuchma to ratify the results intensified the marked differences between Ukraine's rulers and the emboldened opposition, whose supporters stood in a huge rally near this capital's center, saying they would continue to resist what they regard as an election stolen by the government's hand. Both sides warned that the possibility of violence was real.

Kiev was electric with energy on Wednesday, and even at the moment of Mr. Kuchma's assertive step, its risks and the depths of opposition against it were evident.

At a tumultuous meeting of the Central Election Commission, the government declared Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich the winner of the presidential runoff, giving him 49.46 of the vote to 46.61 percent for Viktor A. Yushchenko. People in the chamber heckled the reading of the results.

Riot policemen were stationed outside behind a defensive ring of sand-filled dump trucks, as were busloads of men from Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian region that much of the ruling class comes from. The newly arrived men waved the blue flags of the Yanukovich campaign and warned away opposition supporters with menacing sneers, and in at least one case, threats.

After Mr. Yushchenko was declared the loser, he called for national civil disobedience. In this country of 48 million, one of the bridges between Russia and the rest of Europe, a test of political wills moved toward the possibility of confrontation.

It was Mr. Yushchenko's second impassioned appearance of the day. Earlier, he called on the army and the police to ignore orders to put down the demonstrations by force.

"You know what is the real choice of the people, you know the evil that is being made before your eyes, you know that the law is being violated," he told the police. "You are responsible for maintaining the order: Don't turn the weapons against the people!"

Mr. Kuchma, in a television appearance, mentioned a risk of civil war.

Western election observers and leaders have been unequivocally critical of Sunday's election, citing extensive documentation of organized fraud and the abuse of state powers to assist the prime minister, who was personally chosen by Mr. Kuchma to be his successor.

The White House and European leaders had publicly called for Mr. Kuchma to refrain from validating the results without ensuring the election was fair.

The government's spokespeople were alternately conciliatory and inflammatory.

Sergei Tihipko, Mr. Yanukovich's campaign manager, said the president-elect would be willing to talk with Mr. Yushchenko about government restructuring. "We can give certain guarantees," he said. "We can conduct political reform, reducing the rights of the president and giving more power to the Parliament."

Oleksandra Kuzhel, a Yanukovich aide who serves as a liaison to businesses, took a confrontational stance, saying calls from Washington were unwelcome and irrelevant in Ukrainian politics. "I would like very much to see John Kerry as the U.S. president," she said. "But this does not mean I will call on the United States to make this so."

She dismissed American threats as insignificant, saying aid from Washington to Ukraine was not large enough to be much missed.

Although Mr. Kuchma's government was able to muster a quorum at the election commission and force through its result, much remained uncertain on Wednesday.

Kiev remained crowded with thousands of thus-far peaceful demonstrators, and Wednesday afternoon, realizing that the government would ignore his calls for investigations, Mr. Yushchenko moved pre-emptively, appearing on stage in Independence Square.

Each day since Sunday, the Yushchenko cause has drawn more people. The crowd on Wednesday was the largest yet. In front of Mr. Yushchenko was a sea of rapt people waving orange banners that symbolize his campaign.

"If you could see yourselves from this spot, you would realize how beautiful you are, how strong you are," he began, and then told them they were on the cusp of history, that already "a wall had been torn down: it was the wall between dictatorship and democracy."

He called for another election, but with stricter rules to prevent abuse. He asked the demonstrators to remain in place until they prevailed.

Later, Yulia Tymoshenko, a member of Parliament supporting the opposition, issued instructions through the public address system for mass civil disobedience, calling the square the opposition's "beachhead" and saying the demonstrators should under no circumstances give it up.

Mr. Yushchenko had other options for putting pressure on the government, although none were immediately promising.

Mr. Kuchma's staff noted Mr. Yushchenko could challenge the results in Ukraine's Supreme Court, but his prospects before the judiciary seemed poor. A senior Western diplomat in Kiev on Tuesday described the court's record as "dismal."

The leader of Ukraine's Communist Party, Petro M. Symonenko, said Wednesday that the elections should be declared invalid and power passed to Parliament. Mr. Symonenko had not previously taken sides, and his apparent allegiance to the opposition could give Mr. Yushchenko's coalition in Parliament a quorum to call a session challenging the vote.

But this possibility was leavened by the realization at Yushchenko headquarters that two Communists on the election commission signed the official election results, siding with Mr. Kuchma and suggesting that Communist ranks were split.

Moreover, Mr. Yushchenko's campaign said that once the results were declared official, a challenge by Parliament would be only symbolic.

As the standoff continued, one of its larger meanings emerged in clear relief, with Russia and the rest of Europe diverging sharply in reaction.

Mr. Yanukovich had campaigned in part on strengthening ties with Russia, and Mr. Yushchenko in part on broadening Ukraine's European connections westward. This shorthand, coupled with the evidence that organized fraud may have tilted the race, was reinforced as international reaction broke into distinct camps.

Russia's lower house of Parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning Mr. Yushchenko's supporters, calling the election legitimate, and throwing lawmakers' support, like that of President Vladimir V. Putin, behind Mr. Yanukovich.

Leading European officials put pressure on Ukraine for a recount or investigation of Mr. Yushchenko's charges. José Manuel Barroso of Portugal, president of the European Commission, the European Union's executive body, warned of unspecified consequences if there were not "a serious, objective review," according to The Associated Press.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany, who maintains warm relations with Mr. Putin, told the German Parliament that he agreed with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which led one of the observer missions here, that "massive electoral fraud took place."

Poland's foreign minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, called for a recount. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said, "We will not accept elections that are fraudulent."

Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and Solidarity leader, said he was prepared to travel to Ukraine to support the opposition's claim to power, referring to "the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko."

With signs of Western disapproval accumulating and the possibility of violence looming, the Kuchma and Yanukovich staffs said the government had no plans to break relations with the rest of Europe.

"Ukraine cannot disappear from the central part of Europe," said Sergei L. Vasilyev, the head of Mr. Kuchma's information department. "The West will have to learn to come to terms of agreement with the new president."

Another outcome, violence, seemed a clear possibility. Outside the Central Election Commission, where riot policemen watched over the crowd, a knot of young Yanukovich supporters taunted a middle-aged opposition supporter.

One large young man tapped his finger against the older man's chest, telling him to leave. "You better take care," Vadim Sirichenko, 19, said.

The opposition supporter, Viktor Voitenko, 45, did not move. "This is your democracy?" he asked.

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