Ukraine court rejects election challenge

Ukraine's Supreme Court threw out yesterday a challenge to last month's presidential election, paving the way for liberal Viktor Yushchenko to take power next week after two weeks in political limbo.

The court rejected an appeal by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who lost to Mr Yushchenko in the December 26 vote but tried to force the Central Election Commission to reconsider complaints it already threw out last week.

"The Court has decided to deny the complaint by presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich. This decision is final and cannot be challenged," a Supreme Court justice said, reading out the decision after several hours of deliberations.

The election commission said it would resume work on Sunday, after remaining closed today for Ukraine's Christmas holiday. The commission must certify and publish the final results before Mr Yushchenko can be declared the winner.

Mr Yushchenko had accused Mr Yanukovich of using his challenges to "torture the nation". Mr Yushchenko's followers suspected allies of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma of dragging out the transition to win time to cover the tracks of shady deals.

Mr Yanukovich could mount another appeal after the commission announces its result. But the court's decisive ruling makes it unlikely he could hold up the process much longer.

"The odds are there will be more appeals to the Supreme Court. But it's unlikely they would even be accepted for consideration," Mr Yushchenko's representative at the hearing, Svitlana Kustova, said after the judgment.

Mr Yanukovich had long said he had little hope of success. "This is exactly the decision we expected. For a long time the court has been making political rather than legal rulings," his lawyer, Svitlana Shapiro, said.

The same court played a decisive role in bringing Mr Yushchenko to power by throwing out the result of a rigged November election after Mr Yanukovich was declared the winner.

Mr Yushchenko's supporters, who demonstrated in their hundreds of thousands against the rigged poll in November, have maintained a tent city on the streets of the capital Kiev to keep up pressure during the drawn-out transition.

In the days after the December 26 election, one member of the outgoing cabinet was found dead in his sauna with a gunshot to the head, other officials were sacked by Mr Kuchma and some are rumoured to have left the country.

Mr Yushchenko's allies, meanwhile, have been jockeying for positions in his new government. Mr Yushchenko is not expected to announce a line-up until after his inauguration, which most politicians expect at the end of next week.