Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich pressed rival Yulia Tymoshenko to concede defeat today after a narrow victory in a presidential election that could tilt the ex-Soviet state back towards Moscow.
With 98.4 per cent of votes counted, official figures gave Mr Yanukovich, whose party is allied to the Kremlin's United Russia, a margin of 2.8 percentage points over prime minister Tymoshenko, meaning she could not overtake him.
Ms Tymoshenko, who called supporters onto the streets in 2004 to overturn a previous Yanukovich election win that was ruled fraudulent, today postponed a planned news conference until tomorrow.
Her supporters alleged numerous violations of electoral law in yesterday’s runoff vote but election officials and monitors said they had not seen serious faults.
International observers headed by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) endorsed the poll as an "impressive display" of democracy and called on Ukraine's feuding political leaders to "listen to the people's verdict".
The OSCE verdict was almost tantamount to a call by the international community for Ms Tymoshenko to accept the fight was over.
Central Election Commission officials said the votes still left to be counted were likely to increase Mr Yanukovich's victory margin slightly - but the victorious candidate still faced a daunting array of hurdles.
Western investors and Russia reacted cautiously to the election outcome, aware that a prolonged period of uncertainty over the result could hurt the country's sickly economy even more. Investors rate Ukrainian debt as among the world's riskiest after the economy contracted by about 15 per cent last year.
Just under 600,000 votes separated the two sides, reflecting Ukraine's deep divisions between its Russian-leaning east and south and the Western-friendly central and western regions. More than a million voters chose to vote against both candidates, an option offered on the ballot paper.
Ms Tymoshenko's camp, alleging fraud, offered a parallel vote count that claimed she was edging out her rival.
The official results signalled a comeback for Mr Yanukovich (59), and widespread disillusionment among Ukrainians that the "Orange Revolution" democracy movement of 2004 has not delivered the hoped-for prosperity and stability.
Reversing current President Viktor Yushchenko's pro-Western, anti-Moscow course, Mr Yanukovich has promised to give the Russian language official status alongside Ukrainian.
He called for a "historic partnership" with Moscow in a speech to the Kremlin's ruling party congress in November last year and has backed Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev's proposals for a new security architecture in Europe to replace Nato.
Mr Yanukovich last night urged Ms Tymoshenko to resign as prime minister.
Reuters