Ugandans:
There is some heavy politics going on here between the Russian and the USA. Your home work is to figure it out!!!
MK
| Kuchma wins Putin's support; Ukraine opposition demands quick vote (02/12/2004) |
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| KIEV (AFP) Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma won support from his Russian counterpart and ally Vladimir Putin as the supreme court heard closing arguments before passing a crucial ruling aimed at ending political deadlock. The opposition meanwhile demanded that a new election be called within days while its pro-Western leader Viktor Yushchenko denounced Kuchma's trip to a country that supported his rival and said real power rested with the people of Ukraine. Yushchenko also won backing for a new vote from Washington as all the players appeared to focus on yet another election aimed at settling chaos in a country that serves as a vital bridge -- or buffer -- between Russia and the West. Kuchma rushed to Moscow for talks with Putin after a round of talks mediated by EU negotiators produced an agreement from Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and Yushchenko to wait for the court to rule on the validity of their contested November 21 presidential runoff. The two rivals agree that the vote was mired in fraud and the court heard Thursday that up to one million ballots may be invalid -- about the margin of Yanukovich's declared victory over his Western-leaning foe. But Yushchenko wants a quick re-run of his runoff with Yanukovich. The opposition believes it can beat the prime minister in a clean race and feels momentum is on its side as shown by ongoing massive street rallies. Kuchma counters that a "third vote" is unconstitutional and wants the election run from scratch and the field opened to all. This would also give him the option of finding a more voter-friendly ruling party candidate. The European Union on Thursday backed Yushchenko's demand while US President George W. Bush said in Washington that he supported the idea of "any election." But Kuchma found support from Putin who openly scoffed at the idea of a repeat vote between the two Viktors alone. "And then what? A third, fourth, twenty-fifth time? This could continue as long as one of the sides doesn't obtain the result it needs," Putin demanded. But he also dismissed charges that Russia was trying to secure its interests in Ukraine and said Moscow was only trying to help. While Russian, European Union and other mediators were ready to help, "the final word rests solely with the people of Ukraine," Putin said in nationally televised remarks from his hastily arranged meeting with Kuchma at a Moscow airport. Kuchma responded that the dispute could not be resolved "without Russia's direct participation" before quickly coming under attack for his remarks from Yushchenko. "The source of power is in Ukraine -- it is the people," the opposition leader told reporters in Kiev. Meanwhile one of his top deputies demanded that a new vote be scheduled by the weekend. "We will not allow the process to drag on. We want an agreement on the necessary changes within 24 or 48 hours," senior opposition figure Yulia Timoshenko told reporters. "The opposition demands that amendments be urgently submitted to the law on presidential elections in order to clearly fix a date for a new second round," she said. Still the court left the nation guessing for the fourth day over what its verdict on the election will be. It cannot call for a new vote but can declare a part of or the entire election invalid. One of the election commission members who was named to the body by Yanukovich's winning camp told justice that about a million ballots may be fraudulent. "The central electoral commission bears chief responsibility," admitted a commission member Ruslan Kniazevic. Kniazevic criticized the "complacency and inaction" of the central election commission in its management of the contested poll. "In my view, a million votes were stuffed into the box es" after the polls had closed, he said. The court has no time limit for its hearing but expectations were rising that a verdict might be read Friday. The central election commission would have to decide if it should then call a new vote. Current law does not allow for a re-run of a runoff -- the option favored by the opposition -- and the two camps after the verdict are due to form a working group charged with redrafting the country's election legislation. Meanwhile Kuchma told Putin that he planned in the interim period to hand over power from the government to parliament. The chamber had Wednesday voted to oust Yanukovich's team but has not yet signed the cabinet's dismissal." "The process is simple: a supreme court ruling, followed by a constitutional reform allowing within a few days formation of a parliamentary government which would then be responsible for the situation in the country," Kuchma said. | ||
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