President favors new election :: Charter'97 :: News

The departing Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, said Monday that he favors holding new elections if that would bring the country`s political crisis to a halt. "If we really want to preserve peace and consensus and build this just democratic society," Kuchma said in a statement, "let us have new elections."

His words were echoed in part by the man who has been declared the winner of the Nov. 21 vote, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who said he would agree to hold a new vote in the country`s two eastern regions if mass fraud were proven to have taken place, as charged by the opposition.

"If there is proof of cheating, that something illegal occurred there and if there is no doubt among experts, I will agree with such a decision," Yanukovych said in televised comments.

Kuchma warned that "we cannot in any instance allow the disintegration or division of Ukraine," and Secretary of State Colin Powell said he has telephoned the Ukrainian president to express concern about reports of a possible splintering of the country.

Powell said that he told Kuchma that it is important to keep the country intact.

The call came a day after regional leaders in the eastern part of Ukraine signaled an intention to seek autonomy next month if the political impasse persists.

"If we can keep things calm and allow the leaders and the politicians and members of the international community who are trying to help the Ukrainians all come together, then hopefully, a peaceful solution will be found," Powell said.

The secretary has already said that the United States could not accept the results of the election.

Court begins hearings
Kuchma spoke as Ukraine`s Supreme Court began its hearings Monday morning into complaints from the opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, that the presidential runoff election was tainted by organized state fraud and should be nullified.

As the court met, in another significant development, Yanukovych`s campaign minister resigned. He also stepped down as the country`s central banker.

The campaign manager, Serhiy Tyhypko, who is also head of the Ukraine Workers Party, said at a news conference that the country was divided and that a new election was needed.

The 21 judges on the court, who held two sessions Monday, accepted as evidence documents and audio and videotapes that supporters of Yushchenko said showed the fraud.

At one point a lawyer for the Central Election Commission seemed to suggest that many violations did indeed take place in those regions, and she asked for a couple of days to investigate them.

Yushchenko`s side quickly labeled the request a stalling tactic and said that the court should make its decision immediately.

Intention toward autonomy
Tyhypko defection from the Yanukovych campaign came a day after regional leaders supporting the president-elect signaled an intention for the eastern part of the country to seek autonomy next month if the political impasse persists.

"We are divided," he said Monday. "We understand this has to be corrected. I am sure there is still time to rectify the situation, assuming the authorities will make the right decision without delay." He did not explain what he meant by "right decision."

In a show of political will that illustrated the extent to which the nation is divided, as many as 3,500 officials from 17 regions convened an informal congress in the afternoon and voted unanimously to seek autonomy by public referendum if the opposition continues its quest to make Yushchenko president.