Citizens in Ukraine, a country formerly part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or U.S.S.R.) are gathering en masse in Kiev to decry their just-held election as a government-sponsored fraud.
Many see the election as determining whether Ukraine tilts toward the West or its traditional patron, Russia. Vladimir Putin favored Viktor Yanukovych, who is being touted by the government as the winner.
KIEV, Ukraine — Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed downtown Kiev on Monday to denounce alleged fraud in Ukraine’s presidential runoff election, local councils in the capital and several other cities cried foul, and a major chocolate producer closed its factories in protest.
The Central Election Commission’s announcement that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was ahead of reformist candidate Viktor Yushchenko with nearly all the votes counted prompted widespread dismay among the former Soviet republic’s 48 million people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a statement to Yanukovych to congratulate him on the result, Russian news agencies reported, but a group of international observers described Sunday’s balloting as severely flawed.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said outgoing President Leonid Kuchma “has both the responsibility and the opportunity to review all of this and take decisive action in the best interests of the country.”
Lugar did not make specific suggestions and it was not immediately clear what Kuchma and the authorities might do to defuse the sharply rising anger.
European Union officials also urged Ukrainian authorities to “urgently” review the results, saying the election had “clearly fallen short” of international standards.
[…]
Some demonstrators waved large Georgian flags, echoing the mass protests a year ago that drove President Eduard Shevardnadze from office in that former Soviet republic after a fraudulent parliamentary election.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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