Ukraine's Central Election Commission Sunday officially declared Viktor Yanukovich winner of the 2010 presidential election. The commission confirmed results of the Feb. 7 runoff vote that showed 59-year-old Yanukovich had beaten Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by 3.48 percentage points. “The Central Election Commission declares Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovich elected president of Ukraine”, said commission president Volodymyr Shapoval. Tymoshenko said Saturday she had proof of cheating by the Yanukovich camp in the runoff and vowed to contest his victory in court. “Whatever happens in future, he will never become the legitimately-elected president of Ukraine,” she said in a televised broadcast. – Reuters It seems likely that supporters of the charismatic 49-year-old Tymoshenko will now lodge an official appeal against the results and present to a Kiev high court evidence of fraud which they say they have accumulated. Analysts expect the court to take several days to consider the evidence presented. The Commission's declaration followed endorsement of the election by international monitors who hailed the runoff vote an “impressive display” of democracy. World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have congratulated Yanukovich as well as the European Union and NATO. But Tymoshenko has pressed ahead with her challenge to the result, ignoring Western support for her rival. She promised, however, not to call people out in mass streets protests like those of the Orange Revolution, when she helped lead a successful challenge to Yanukovich's election vicotry in 2004 and had it overturned as fraudulent. Yanukovich, an ex-mechanic from the Donbass mining region who is backed by wealthy industrialists, is expected to tilt Ukraine back towards Russia, its former imperial master, after five years of estrangement under pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko. The Tymoshenko camp says Western leaders have backed his election because they are fearful of unrest breaking out in the ex-Soviet state of 46 million. She said Saturday that more than one million votes which would have handed her victory had been subject to fraud. The difference between the two candidates, as confirmed by the Central Election Commission, was about 888,000 votes. Her continued refusal to concede victory to Yanukovich or heed his call to resign as prime minister spells continuing turmoil for Ukraine. Analysts say continued political tension and instability threaten prospects for a quick economic recovery and early resumption of much-needed International Monetary Fund lending to the country. The IMF suspended a $16.4 billion bail-out programme late last year because of breached promises of fiscal restraint.
