Yanukovich

Lawmakers decided that Viktor Yushchenko would be sworn in Sunday as president of Ukraine after weeks of turmoil in which he defeated a Kremlin-backed candidate at the polls. The move came hours after Yushchenko cleared the last in a series of legal obstacles that had arisen since his Dec. 26 election, including a Supreme Court appeal by loser Viktor Yanukovich.

Parliament approved President Viktor Yushchenko's choice for prime minister after he made a pact with an old foe. Lawmakers approved Yuri Yekhanurov after Yushchenko signed a truce with the Party of the Regions, led by losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich. That backing helped offset the defection of some of Yushchenko's Orange Revolution allies after Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was ousted.

President Viktor Yushchenko threatened his rival with criminal charges if he refused to prepare for early parliamentary elections next month, suggesting he was losing patience amid the deepening political crisis. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, however, vowed to wait for a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the legality of the order to dissolve parliament. Each has accused the other of violating the law.

Amid fears that disputes over the vote count could trigger violence, citizens head to the polls here today in a presidential election marked by a fierce battle between pro-Western and Moscow-oriented candidates. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, widely viewed as a free-market democratic reformer, is facing Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who is popular in Ukraine's largely Russian-speaking east, in an exceptionally harsh campaign.

The Moscow-backed loser of Ukraine's presidential election staved off his pro-Western rival's inauguration for another day by persuading the Supreme Court to block publication of the official result Tuesday. Overnight, the Central Election Commission had declared that Viktor Yushchenko would be Ukraine's next president, after more than two weeks of political limbo following the Dec. 26 vote.

The main Ukrainian opposition party joined up with two other groups in parliament Friday, and the new coalition proposed pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovich as prime minister. The realignment means that Yanukovich, the Kremlin-backed candidate in the 2004 presidential election that sparked the mass protests dubbed the Orange Revolution, could end up serving as prime minister to his onetime opponent, President Viktor Yushchenko.

Outgoing President Leonid D. Kuchma on Monday endorsed a proposal for new balloting to resolve the country's political crisis, further undermining Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's bid for recognition as president-elect. In a day that saw rapid erosion of Yanukovich's claim to power, the Supreme Court heard opposition arguments charging fraud in the Nov. 21 presidential runoff election.

Less than a year and a half after President Viktor Yushchenko struggled to power in a historic contest filled with clashes over corruption and fraud, voters today head into parliamentary elections in which the tone is much closer to the nuanced politics expected of a democracy. The dreamy pro-Western coalition that brought Yushchenko victory through the Orange Revolution has broken into competing factions.

Thousands of supporters of Ukraine's Russian-leaning prime minister marched to the gates of the pro-Western president's office Wednesday, vowing not to back down in a standoff between the two leaders. Dozens of supporters of President Viktor Yushchenko tried to stop the more than 7,000 backers of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich from getting closer to the presidential office. Police in riot gear separated the sides.

Partial official results in Ukraine's bitterly fought presidential election Sunday gave Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich the lead, but he appeared headed for a runoff with a pro-West opposition leader. With about 81% of voting districts counted, official results showed Yanukovich with about 42% of the votes. The prime minister has called for stronger ties with Moscow. Viktor Yushchenko, regarded as a pro-Western democrat and free-market reformer, was second with 37% in a field of 24 candidates.