Tymoshenko warns Yanukovich against fraud in presidential poll

UKRAINIAN PRIME minister Yulia Tymoshenko has threatened to launch street protests if opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich tries to rig this weekend’s presidential election.

Mr Yanukovich’s use of fraud in the 2004 presidential vote triggered the Orange Revolution, a wave of huge demonstrations that brought Ms Tymoshenko to power in the premiership alongside Viktor Yushchenko as head of state.

After five years of squabbling, stalled reforms and rows with neighbouring Russia, Mr Yushchenko was trounced in the first round of this year’s presidential ballot, leaving Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yanukovich to fight for the right to succeed him in Sunday’s run-off.

“I ask you not to allow Yanukovich to rape our democracy, our election and our country,” Ms Tymoshenko told Ukrainians yesterday. “If we are unable to guarantee the honest expression of the people’s will and honest results, we will mobilise the people. I have no doubt about this,” she added.

“If Yanukovich wants an honest fight, we are ready to compete with him – but if he tries to cheat, we will mount the kind of resistance that he has never seen before, not even in 2004.”

Ms Tymoshenko has also accused her rival of planning to use violence if necessary to secure power. She urged Mr Yushchenko to block last-minute changes to election rules which she claims are part of Mr Yanukovich’s tactics, but the outgoing president approved the reforms yesterday, in what was seen as a final snub to the woman who has become his most bitter political enemy.

Mr Yanukovich, whom most polls identify as Sunday’s likely winner, has pledged to get rid of Ms Tymoshenko’s government if he becomes president. He shrugged off her threat to lead mass protests, calling it “a sign of her weakness and an indication that she is losing”. “Few people would go ,” he said. “The only people who would are those who enjoy the dishes that Tymoshenko feeds on – dirt, lies and slander.”

Ms Tymoshenko’s reputation has been badly damaged by her power struggle with Mr Yushchenko, and experts said that few Ukrainians would now rally to her cause. “A repeat of the 2004 events are impossible. The only people that will take part in street protests will be hired hands and a small number of supporters,” said analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.

“She is seeking confrontation either to get some sort of compromise favourable for herself after the elections . . . or to secure some honourable way out without feeling totally beaten,” he added. “There will not be a second Orange Revolution.”

Both candidates have sought to broaden their appeal in this election, with Mr Yanukovich trying to allay fears he is Moscow’s stooge by vowing to pursue closer ties with the European Union, and the pro-western Ms Tymoshenko improving her relations with Russia. Tension between Kiev and Moscow was ratcheted up this week, however, when Ukraine’s security service said it had caught Russian agents trying to obtain state secrets from a Ukrainian citizen.