Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said today he would settle only for a full new election to resolve a deadlock over last month's presidential poll, but was willing to speed up the process of staging it.
Addressing ministers after a day-long visit to Moscow, Mr Kuchma said a new election could be held once parliament approved constitutional reform reducing the powers of the president and boosting those of parliament and the government.
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"If we find a proper legal framework, I am prepared to examine the possibility of holding the election in a shorter time frame than set down in legislation," he said.
Agencies
Mr Kuchma has called for a completely new election to be held, rather than just a repetition of the runoff, in the apparent hope of finding a compromise candidate to replace Mr Yanukovych. A new vote would need about three months to organise and keep Mr Kuchma in office in the meantime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today attacked the Ukrainian opposition's push to repeat the election. He told Mr Kuchma, who had flown to Moscow for an emergency meeting, that a rerun of the vote would be pointless.
Meeting Mr Kuchma at a government airport outside the capital, Mr Putin said he was surprised by the idea of repeating the November 21st runoff, which Ukraine's opposition leader Mr Viktor Yushchenko is demanding.
Mr Yushchenko claims ballot rigging robbed him of victory and has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the official results, which declared the Kremlin backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner.
The court today rejected Mr Yanukovych's objections to parts of the opposition's appeal, leaving open the possibility that the judges might name Mr Yushchenko the president based on the first-round results, which he won.
"A revote could be conducted a third, a fourth, 25th time, until one side gets the results it needs," Mr Putin said sarcastically.
The European Union, the United States and other Western powers have called for a new election to end the standoff. Nato urged politicians not to reduce the dispute to an East-West row, but Mr Putin again warned the West not to interfere in the crisis.
"Neither Russia, nor the European Union, nor international organisations will solve the problems," he said. "They all can play the role of mediators, but the Ukrainian people have the last word."
Mr Yushchenko, who regards links to the West as key to Ukraine's future, has brought vast crowds of supporters onto the streets to back his case. By contrast, Mr Yanukovich views strong ties to Moscow as essential for the country's development.