26/11/2004 00:00
TW
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by RAY FLEMING
Yesterday's decision by the Ukrainian Supreme Court to suspend publication of the country's presidential election result until next week will have given all those involved in the stand-off between the two presidential contenders a welcome break for reflection. The tens of thousands of supporters of the liberal opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko who have braved freeezing temperatures in Kiev's main square will be grateful for the opportunity to thaw out. It is unlikely, though, that they will go away altogether since the strength of their conviction that last Sunday's election was rigged is a vitally important factor in the way that this matter is resolved. There is ample evidence that the election was not “free and fair”, both in the way that state TV was harnessed to boost the cause of prime minister Viktor Yanukovych and in the stuffed ballot boxes which in one case led to a declared turn-out of more than 100 per cent of the electorate.

The stakes are very high indeed. For the citizens of the Ukraine the election was about a choice between closer links with Russia or with the European Union. Geographically the Ukraine lies between Russia and Europe; President Putin's anxiety that yet another part of the old Soviet Union should distance itself from Moscow as Georgia did almost exactly one year ago, is understandable. In The Hague yesterday Mr Putin said that the problem should be resolved constitutionally. The best outcome would be a decision from the Supreme Court that the election had not been constitutional and should be run again. The worst outcome would be that the Court endorses Mr Yanukovych's apparent victory, a decision that would lead to internal unrest, American and EU protests and counter-productive sanctions against Ukraine, and a serious worsening of relations with Russia.