Kiev: Defeated election candidate Yulia Tymoshenko refused to recognise Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine's new president, vowing to fight to consolidate a parliamentary
majority against him.
Yanukovych "came to power on the back of lies and will not stay in power long," she said yesterday in a television address to the nation, amid fears that the country is heading
into a prolonged political crisis.
The comments by Tymoshenko, who is Ukraine's prime
minister, came as Yanukovych prepared for his inauguration as
president on Thursday after his narrow victory in presidential
elections.
Tymoshenko has shown no sign of heeding his call for her
to step down as PM.
"I do not recognise him as president of Ukraine and do
not accept his anti-Ukrainian, anti-European politics,"
Tymoshenko said.
She said she would seek to bolster a parliamentary
majority among her own party and other minority parties in
parliament to block Yanukovych's Regions Party.
"It is necessary to finally stop all the rows and create
a powerful team in parliament that will prevent the creation
of an anti-Ukrainian dictatorship," she said.
On paper, Tymoshenko already has an anti-Yanukovych
majority in parliament, but this could be seriously undermined
by defections from the minority parties and even her own.
Tymoshenko has insisted the February 7 polls was marred
by mass falsifications, even though international observers
gave the poll a clean bill of health.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 10:34