UKRAINE: OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TAKES SYMBOLIC OATH OF OFFICE INSIDE PARLIAMENT

Record ID: 649369

  • Title: UKRAINE: OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TAKES SYMBOLIC OATH OF OFFICE INSIDE PARLIAMENT
  • Date: 23rd November 2004
  • Summary: WIDE/ PAN OF CHAMBER/ DEPUTIES APPLAUDING / NATIONAL ANTHEM BEING SUNG WIDE OF YUSHCHENKO AND OTHERS SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Q2QJYA34ZP25ANX12JG36LC9
  • Story Text: Ukraine parliament meets to dicuss poll aftermath; Yushchenko takes symbolic oath of office after session.
    Ukraine plunged deeper into turmoil on Tuesday (November 23) with the losing candidate in presidential elections reading the oath of office in parliament while some 200,000 supporters outside demanded the government admit it had cheated.
    Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma broke two days of silence to urge the two candidates to talk and warned Western countries that their criticism over the way Sunday's second-round run-off ballot was handled could stoke tension in Ukraine.
    Opposition and West-leaning candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who called hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, told parliament Ukraine "is on the brink of civil conflict".
    He accused the outgoing president and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of responsibility for electoral fraud which produced the results that have Yanukovich poised to be named president.
    Supporters prompted Yushchenko to read the oath of office after the conclusion of a tumultuous session of parliament that was boycotted by Yanukovich allies.
    He read the oath with his hand on a bible, opened a window in the parliament building and addressed a sea of supporters outside who have turned out for a second day of raucous protest, which has the centre of the capital seething with anger.
    Speaking to reporters as he was leaving the parliament building, Yushchenko said the time soon would come for the people's choice to be given back to them.
    "The falsification organi sed by the authorities has only postponed the time for recognition of the real choice by the people. This choice was proclaimed today in parliament and I took the oath on the Holy Bible; the oath which according to the constitution the president is obliged to take," said Yushchenko.
    Speaker after speaker stepped up to the microphone in Kiev's Independence Square to defiantly pledge loyalty to Yushchenko.
    The parliamentary session ended without taking any decision on the aftermath of the poll.
    "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country,"
    parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start.
    U.S. and Western observers say the second round run-off presidential vote fell far short of international standards.
    Washington warned of punitive measures if the Kiev leadership failed to investigate allegations of vote-rigging and the European Union described the vote as "fraudulent".
    In Brussels, the European parliament's chief observer said Sunday's run-off defied common sense and had more in common with a North Korean election.
    Economists said Ukraine, which has one of Europe's fastest-growing economies, could suffer a painful slump if the political split deepens.
    With passions high against the background of a warning on Monday from security forces that they would crush unrest "quickly and firmly", the political split could turn violent.
    Yanukovich, who has been congratulated by his most powerful backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not declared victory. But he virtually assumed the mantle of president on Monday by appearing on television beside the national flag to denounce Yushchenko and his supporters.
    Banners in the sea of protesters included the Georgian red and white flag -- a reminder that November 23 was the first anniversary of Georgia's mass "rose revolution" that toppled veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze and elected a pro-Westerner.
    But it was uncertain if Ukraine's liberals could force similar changes.
    Protesters, breaking off from sipping soup from vacuum flasks, burst into sporadic chants of "Yushchenko, Yushchenko".
    The election gave Ukrainians a stark choice. Yanukovich sees closer ties with Russia as the key to prosperity, while his rival calls for gradual integration with the West.
    It also underlined the divide between the nationalist west and the industrial Russian-speaking east that backed Yanukovich.
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