Ukraine's Yanukovich joins re-run

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said defiantly, yesterday, he would take on opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in a new election battle, a day after a court stripped him of his title of president-elect.

Allegations of electoral fraud by supporters of the Moscow-backed Yanukovich have tarnished his image and reduced his chances of beating the liberal leader in the December 26 re-run of the presidential poll ordered by the Supreme Court.

But a wrangle in parliament divided Yushchenko's allies and indicated that his path to the presidency was still strewn with pitfalls.

Yushchenko and the socialist allies who gave him crucial support in the disputed November 21 run-off against Yanukovich, found themselves at odds over proposed reforms that would trim the powers of the next president.

The emergency parliamentary session failed to agree either this measure or reforms aimed at stopping a repetition of vote rigging in the December 26 re-run. It was not immediately clear when a new session would take place.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma tried to reassert himself, telling Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende the opposition had failed to fulfil pledges they had made to cut presidential powers before the Supreme Court ruling, Kuchma's office said.

Yushchenko's supporters kept up their "Orange Revolution" on the streets of the capital Kiev, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that the poll that gave Yanukovich victory was rigged and annulled it, ordering a re-run.

"He is convinced he will win the second time as he won the first time since 15 million Ukrainians stand behind him," Yanukovich's spokeswoman, Anna German, said.

But analysts said the bruising confrontation with Yushchenko in the past fortnight had fatally damaged his credibility.

Apart from the demonstration in front of parliament, Yushchenko's supporters, clad in his orange campaign colours, also formed a noisy crowd outside government headquarters, rapping out a jungle beat on metal oil drums.

Yanukovich was dismissed by parliament on Wednesday, but Kuchma has not yet signed a decree making the decision official. He has been out of the public eye for the past few days, apparently because of illness.

Even Yanukovich's supporters acknowledged that Yushchenko's support had increased in the past 13 days, and that he would go into the December 26 contest stronger than before.

German said Yanukovich regarded the court's decision as having been made under "huge political pressure".

The crisis, following a bitter election battle between Yushchenko and Yanukovich, plunged the ex-Soviet state into turmoil and set Russia at odds with the West.

The court ruling was a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had campaigned for Yanukovich and supported Kuchma at a meeting on Thursday in opposing a repeat of the run-off.

The turn of events could strain ties further between Russia, concerned about Ukraine slipping out of its orbit of influence, and the West, which had backed Yushchenko's charges of cheating and called for new elections.

The Kremlin leader, on a visit to New Delhi, had no immediate comment on developments in Ukraine.

The US welcomed the court's decision, saying it was important that the new vote be free and fair. Canada said it would send a large number of observers to monitor the re-run.

In contrast to the festivities in Kiev and the Ukrainian-speaking west of the country, several regions of the Russian-speaking east which support Yanukovich were dismayed by the Supreme Court judgment.

Deputies from several eastern regions gathered in Kharkiv, condemning the Supreme Court ruling and voicing support for Yanukovich.