Ukrainian parliament declares presidential poll invalid

Supporters of Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko at a rally in Kiev's Independence Square. Picture / Reuters

KIEV - Ukraine's parliament, in a vote providing a moral boost for opposition supporters massed in the capital, says the disputed presidential poll handing victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich is invalid.

Parliament has no legal authority to annul the election results, but with vast crowds backing liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko's call for a new vote, Saturday's declaration carries political weight.

The declaration was issued two days ahead of a Supreme Court case examining Yushchenko's complaints of poll irregularities and as the European Union said it wanted to see new elections.

The chamber passed by a large majority a resolution proclaiming the November 21 poll was invalid, subject to many irregularities and failing to reflect voters' intentions.

But at the end of a highly charged emergency session, it failed to pass a motion on staging a rerun of the vote.

"You now have the time to work through the resolution and prepare the documents necessary to develop it," parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said in closing the session.

Yanukovich called a news conference after the debate. But his press secretary later said he was detained at a meeting and would not be appearing at his largely deserted headquarters.

Yushchenko aides said their candidate had no plans to address crowds in Kiev's main square -- as he has daily since last Sunday's election.

After talks between the two rivals on Friday, overseen by mediators from Russia and the European Union, Yushchenko told supporters he wanted a new poll on December 12.

In eastern Ukraine, the prime minister's power base, similarly large crowds have backed Yanukovich as president.

The disputed election has raised tensions between the West and Russia, which fears losing its hold over Ukraine, and exposed old fault lines dividing the country into east and west.

During its four-hour debate, parliament also expressed no confidence in the Central Election Commission and called on outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to appoint new members.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will examine Yushchenko's complaints of widespread poll irregularities.

"People will not leave the street until a new commission names a new date for elections," said deputy Ivan Zayets, a Yushchenko ally. "These decisions do not solve the problem. They only point in the correct direction for an ultimate resolution."

As the session opened, 100,000 Yushchenko supporters massed outside parliament chanted their candidate's name and the European Union pressed for a new vote.

"We think the best, the ideal, outcome would be elections," Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, speaking on behalf of the EU as its president, told reporters in The Hague.

"If we are heading for elections, it should happen rather soon, before the end of the year."

Speaker Lytvyn took a swipe at outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's scandal-plagued 10 years in office, saying authorities were to blame for the loss of public faith in institutions.

"The outcome is the direct embodiment of public policy undertaken in recent years ... We did not take the people into account, we did not listen to the people."

Members of nearly all political stripes wanted quick action.

"We must put an end to this comedy with a court decision," said Socialist Oleksander Moroz, a close ally of Yushchenko.

But many members placed conditions on any proposal to stage a new election, among them longstanding proposals to overhaul Ukraine's political system, mainly by taking political power away from the president and handing it to parliament.

On the streets, passions remained high.

Heeding Yushchenko's call to stay in the streets until they secured victory, thousands of supporters wearing scarves, hats and ribbons in his campaign's orange colours braved snow and wind to man blockades around government buildings.

Yanukovich supporters were seen boarding trains to return to the prime minister's Donbass stronghold in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. Mass rallies took place in eastern Donetsk region.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Russia had to accept the will of the electorate in Ukraine.

"Neither Russia nor anyone else has anything to fear about a democracy in Ukraine based on the rule of the law," Fischer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Yanukovich twice. Russia has since backed off, urging Ukrainians to settle their differences through the courts.

- REUTERS