Yushchenko Wants Examination Of Vote Recount Demands

Yushchenko Wants Examination Of Vote Recount Demands

KYIV, April 1, 2006 -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today urged the Central Election Commission (CEC) to examine requests for a recount of the March 26 legislative elections.

In his first major public comments since the vote, Yushchenko also called upon CEC chief Yaroslav Davydovich to act "in strict accordance" with the legislation.

Among those parties that are calling for a recount are the pro-Yushchenko Pora-PRP, the bloc led by Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and Natalya Vitrenko's People’s Opposition party.

Yushchenko’s party came only in third, far behind his former presidential rival Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions and the bloc named after his former prime minister, Yuliya Tymoshenko.

Talks are under way to form a governing coalition that could include Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, Tymoshenko's bloc, and the Socialist Party.

Yushchenko today criticized Ukraine’s political leaders for allegedly being more interested in arguing over ministry portfolios than in the country's future.

(www.president.gov.ua, "Ukraynska Pravda," AP)

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Yushchenko Wants Examination Of Vote Recount Demands