Court Voids Ukraine's Presidential Polls
UKRAINE's disputed presidential run-off election has been voided by the country's Supreme Court.
It ruled that a repeat vote should be held by December 26, an action cheered by tens of thousands of opposition supporters who gathered at Kiev's main square.
The short timeframe set for a new vote appeared to rule out the possibility of holding an entirely new election, as sought by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.
The court issued its verdict in response to an appeal by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who asked it to cancel results of the November 21 run-off he said had been rigged in favour of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Yushchenko has pushed for a quick rerun of the run-off. He rejected Kuchma's call for a completely new election, which was widely seen as a bid to field a new candidate more popular than Yanukovych.
Also Ukrainian lawmakers yesterday called for the withdrawal of the country's 1,600 peacekeepers from Iraq in an appeal that was symbolic but showed the weakening of Kuchma amid the country's political crisis.
Kuchma was expected to ignore the non-binding resolution, which was passed 257-0 in the 450-seat parliament. Forty deputies who were present did not take part in the vote, while others stayed away.
Still, the vote showed the fragility of the Ukrainian presence in Iraq, where the country's troops make up the fourth-largest contingent in the United States (U.S.)-led coalition.
Both Yushchenko and Yanukovych support a pull-out. Most Ukrainians want the troops brought home.
"Due to the sharp deterioration of the situation in Iraq, the parliament addresses the president with the proposal on withdrawal of (Ukrainian) troops from Iraq," said the resolution.
Andriy Lysenko, head of the Defence Ministry press service, said it was up to the president to order a withdrawal. The military "answers fully to the president of Ukraine, and in the event he signs the document, the armed forces will execute his order,"
Lysenko said: "So far, we do not have such an order."
Defence Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk and other top defence officials had announced earlier that Ukraine would gradually pull out its troops from Iraq, but not without co-ordinating the move with other coalition members.
In October, Kuzmuk said Ukraine and its coalition partners must first secure the January elections in Iraq. Still, Ukraine cut the size of the contingent in Iraq by some 200 troops the same month.
Top Iraqi officials have repeatedly urged Kuchma not to withdraw Ukrainian troops and said they would like them to stay in Iraq through the elections.
Nine Ukrainian soldiers have died in Iraq, including three in combat, and more than 20 have been wounded.
