<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/international/europe/29ukraine.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times December 29, 2004 Yushchenko Seeks to Bar Rival's Cabinet From a Meeting By C. J. CHIVERS IEV, Ukraine, Dec. 28 - Tensions and risk flared anew in Ukraine on Tuesday after Viktor A. Yushchenko, the opposition leader and presumptive president-elect, called for his supporters to renew the blockade of a government building in the capital where the cabinet of ministers plans to meet early Wednesday. Speaking at an evening rally at Independence Square, Mr. Yushchenko warned that his opponent, apparently the loser, in the election on Sunday, Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich, planned to lead a meeting of what now appears to be a lame-duck cabinet. Mr. Yushchenko called the session illegal. The new call for civil disobedience raised the possibility of confrontation between peaceful demonstrators and the authorities in Kiev, and came at a seemingly unlikely time, as the Central Election Commission completed its count of ballots from the election, and further solidified the opposition's seeming victory. The results, which have not yet been certified, gave Mr. Yushchenko 51.99 percent of the vote to 44.19 percent for the prime minister. Even though the victory seemed clear, with Mr. Yushchenko receiving more than 2.2 million more votes than his rival, Mr. Yanukovich has refused to concede, saying he will challenge the election results in the Supreme Court. And on Tuesday, his staff announced, the prime minister ended the leave he began on Dec. 6 to campaign for the repeat election, and was back at work. The prime minister's spokesman, Oleksandr Ternavsky, also said Mr. Yanukovich would lead a meeting of ministers on Wednesday morning, as the Constitution allows until he is replaced by a new government after the presidential inauguration next month. Mr. Ternavsky insisted that Mr. Yanukovich planned no controversial acts. "There is nothing special on the agenda," he said. "It is just a regular meeting. That is it." Mr. Yushchenko's campaign officials were suspicious and annoyed, however, and asked for the demonstrators on the square, who used mass civil disobedience to paralyze the country for more than two weeks after the Nov. 21 vote, to encircle the cabinet's building early Wednesday. Many of the opposition's supporters remain in the tent cities they built in late November, when their demonstrations began, and Mr. Yushchenko appealed to them for yet another move against the state. "I would ask the population of the encampment early in the morning to start blocking the cabinet," Mr. Yushchenko said, to prevent what he called "the illegitimate government" from conducting state business. He did not say precisely what he feared Mr. Yanukovich might do. He also said that his own government would soon be formed, after a public inauguration in Independence Square, perhaps within as little as two weeks. Although the idea of a renewed demonstration against the government carried certain risks, Mr. Yushchenko did not call for the sort of activities he encouraged after the November election, which was tainted by widespread fraud. After that vote, which was overturned by the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, Mr. Yushchenko called for a national strike, a tent encampment in the city, and civil demonstrations throughout much of Kiev's government center. Mr. Yanukovich seems to have much less support now than before, having broken with the departing president, Leonid D. Kuchma, his onetime mentor. Many of his top supporters have abandoned him in recent weeks, and the troops of the Interior Ministry, which faced off against the demonstrators for more than two weeks after the Nov. 21 election, have not been evident on the streets this week. Copyrigh -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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