The end of weeks of political turmoil in Ukraine was in sight yesterday after the pro-Europe Viktor Yushchenko was officially declared the winner of a re-run presidential vote, paving the way for the inauguration of the "orange revolution" hero.
"In the repeat election of Dec. 26, Viktor Yushchenko has been elected president of Ukraine," central election commission chief Yaroslav Davydovich announced late on Monday to applause and cheers at the end of a seven-hour meeting in Kiev.
"Yu-shchen-ko! Yu-shchen-ko!" chanted the winner's supporters, packed into the commission's meeting room as they unfurled an orange flag, symbol of their standard-bearer's campaign.
Monday's announcement paved the way for parliament to set a date for Yushchenko's inauguration, despite vows by his defeated rival, pro-Russian former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, to keep up a legal challenge over the election.
"This is the happiest day of my life," Petro Poroshenko, a deputy in Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc and one of the four leading candidates for the post of prime minister, said after the vote.
"Ukraine has proved that it is a European country ... A new country and a new government were born today," he said.
Nester Shuffrich, a Yanukovych representative at the commission, promised to appeal the results in the Supreme Court.
"Unfortunately the election results have been determined with violations of the election law and the Constitution," he said. "We will discuss these violations tomorrow or the next day at the Supreme Court."
Yanukovych has vowed to exhaust all avenues for appeal in what many observers say is an attempt to boost his image as a Yushchenko adversary ahead of next year's crucial parliamentary elections.
According to final results, Yushchenko won the election with 51.99 percent of all votes cast compared with 44.20 percent received by Yanukovych, a difference of 2.27 million votes on turnout of 77.19 percent.
Yushchenko's inauguration will put an end to weeks of political turmoil which flared following the now-discredited November election to choose a successor to the 10-year hardline regime of outgoing leader Leonid Kuchma in the strategic former Soviet republic.
The Dec. 26 rematch was set after the Supreme Court threw out results of a Nov. 21 runoff, which election officials said was won by Yanukovych because of massive fraud.
The ruling sparked massive "orange revolution" protests as hundreds of thousands of people descended on Kiev to support their standard-bearer.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
RSS