| Ukraine must probe election fraud Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a6AxD5WkKrmg&refer=europehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a6AxD5WkKrmg&refer=europe
Ukraine Must Probe Presidential Election Fraud, U.S. Govt Says
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government said Ukraine must investigate charges of fraud in the Nov. 21 run-off presidential election that prompted more than half a million people to take to the streets to protest preliminary results.
``These charges need to be thoroughly investigated and cleared up before the international community can have confidence that the results of the Ukrainian elections reflect the will of the people,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday, according to an e-mailed transcript.
Supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, a former central bank governor, took to the streets yesterday after the Electoral Commission said Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won 49.4 percent of the vote and Yushchenko had 46.7 percent. Early exit polls showed Yushchenko winning 54 percent.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said polling didn't meet international standards and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, monitoring the vote in the capital, Kiev, said the government helped rig the election.
Yushchenko, 50, wants to strengthen the former Soviet state's relations with the European Union, while Yanukovych seeks closer ties to Russia.
``We call on the Ukrainian authorities to curb additional abuse and fraud, to uphold its international commitments to democracy and human rights, and to act to ensure an outcome that reflects the will of the Ukrainian people,'' Ereli said, according to the transcript. ``Should, in the final analysis, this election prove to be fundamentally flawed and tarnished, we would certainly need to review our relations with the Ukraine.''
Street Protests
Yushchenko lost the election even after taking 17 of the country's 27 regions, according the election committee. He has urged supporters to remain on the streets to pressure the government, as parliament meets again today discuss possible voter fraud.
As many as half a million Ukrainians demonstrated in Kiev's Independence Square against the result and protests took place in cities including Lviv and Zaporizhzhia.
Local city councils in Kiev and Lviv passed votes of no confidence in the election committee and called on the national parliament to do the same and reject the results. The city of Ivano-Frankivsk, in western Ukraine, said it recognized Yushchenko as president.
``We support and underscore what the European Union said in its statement in calling upon the authorities to show restraint and all sides to express themselves only in a non-violent manner,'' Ereli said, according to the transcript.
Group of Radicals
Yanukovych, in a televised address, criticized opposition politicians for protesting the election and said a ``small group of radicals'' aimed to split Ukraine, Russia's Interfax news agency reported from Kiev.
Ukraine, a country of 47 million people, carries natural gas from Russia accounting for almost 25 percent of the total consumed by Western Europe. It will be one of the world's biggest grain exporters this year.
The first round of the election, held on Oct. 31, was also challenged by Yushchenko after conflicting results between the two candidates' organizations. In the end, Yushchenko took 39.9 percent in a field of six rivals, while Yanukovych, 53, won 39.3 percent, according to the election committee.
``The second round did not meet a considerable number of standards of the OSCE and the European Council for democratic elections,'' OSCE spokesman Bruce George said yesterday. The OSCE wants a review of each precinct in the country before it can say the election is valid.
The office of U.S. Senator Lugar, the head of the U.S. Senate foreign Relations Committee, released a statement yesterday criticizing the vote.
``It is now apparent that there has been a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse enacted with the leadership of cooperation of authorities.'' Lugar said according to the statement.
Last Updated: November 22, 2004 19:52 EST
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