Ukraine’s Supreme Court said yesterday that new Presidential elections must be held after it ruled that the election held last month had been rigged by the government.
The opposition candidate, Mr Viktor Yushchenko, said the decision showed Ukraine was “a true democratic state”.
The Presidential election, held on 21st November, had been criticised by Western observers, especially by representatives of the European Union, after they found irregularities tantamount to election fraud committed by the government.
Opposition supporters, loyal to Mr Yushchenko, took to the streets on mass and have remained there ever since in the capital city of Kiev. It has been these huge demonstrations – which have lasted for over two weeks – that allowed the opposition to build up enough pressure to force the Supreme Court to look at the matter.
After considering the case for five days the Supreme Court finally said yesterday that it had found that the results of the 21 November poll were marked by cheating which the central election commission had failed to examine. “The actions and decisions of the central election commission concerning the results of the run-off presidential vote were unlawful,” a Supreme Court Judge announced.
On hearing the verdict, thousands of opposition protesters amassed in Kiev’s central square cheered. Waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags and orange opposition flags, they chanted “Yushchenko! Yushchenko!”
“Today Ukraine has turned to justice, democracy and freedom,” Mr Yushchenko declared to the ecstatic crowd.
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