| Parliament to swear in yushchenko on jan 23 Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a1nerKK71YAM&refer=europehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a1nerKK71YAM&refer=europe
Ukraine Parliament to Swear In Yushchenko on Jan. 23 (Update1) Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Viktor Yushchenko will be sworn in as Ukraine's president on Jan. 23, ending a two-month standoff over disputed election results, the state-run Ukrinform news service said, citing parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.
The noon inauguration in the Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, will be followed by the resignation of the government of interim Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Ukrinform said. Yushchenko, 50, has said the official ceremony will be followed by a popular celebration in Kiev's Independence Square, the center of protests that led to the annulment of the Nov. 21 second-round presidential vote that Yushchenko lost.
The final move allowing Yushchenko to take office from outgoing President Leonid Kuchma came early today when the Supreme Court rejected former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's last complaint against the Dec. 26 re-run of the election.
Yanukovych, 53, contested the unprecedented re-run after the Central Electoral Commission's final tally gave Yushchenko 51.99 percent of the vote to 44.2 percent for Yanukovych. The Supreme Court ruled on Dec. 3 that the Nov. 21 poll, which Yanukovych won, was riddled with fraud and ordered the new Dec. 26 vote.
Ukraine, located between the European Union and Russia, delivers most of Russia's exported gas to Western Europe and is a net exporter of metals. It is returning to international markets this year as one of the world's six largest grain exporters.
Corruption Fight
The pro-Western Yushchenko, who favors close ties with the EU for the former Soviet republic of 47 million people, will be Ukraine's third president since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. A former central bank governor and prime minister, he has promised to fight the corruption that he says prevailed under his predecessor.
Yushchenko's first task will be to appoint a new prime minister and cabinet and cool the passions that divided the Ukrainian-speaking west and center of the country, from where he draws his main support, from the industrial and Russian-speaking east and south that backed Yanukovych.
Candidates for the prime minister's post, cited by Ukrainian media, include: Yulia Timoshenko, 44, a former deputy prime minister and billionaire businesswoman; Petro Poroshenko, 39, a member of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine parliamentary alliance; former Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh, 50, head of Ukraine's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; and Oleksandr Moroz, 60, founder of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and a former parliament speaker.
Putin Backing
Yanukovych, who was openly backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the election campaign, had promised an economic and political rapprochement with Russia.
Yanukovych had refused to leave office after a Dec. 1 parliamentary vote of no confidence in him and his government; he finally resigned on Dec. 31 after losing the election. Kuchma appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Azarov, 57, as interim premier to run the cabinet until Yushchenko's inauguration.
Some pro-Yanukovych regional leaders began moves toward autonomy, even secession. The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said last month it is investigating initiatives to break away.
Last Updated: January 20, 2005 05:35 EST
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