KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 25 -- Ukraine's Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the inauguration of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the declared winner of Sunday's presidential election, and agreed to hear arguments that the vote had been tainted by fraud. The development shifted some momentum to supporters of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
"This is only the beginning," Yushchenko told a jubilant crowd of tens of thousands in Kiev's Independence Square after the ruling. "It is proof that it is society that always wins."
A supporter of Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko places flowers in police shields in Kiev. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear opposition charges of fraud in Sunday's presidential vote.
(Gleb Garanich -- Reuters)
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The court barred Ukraine's Central Elections Commission from officially publishing the results of the balloting and agreed to begin hearing multiple complaints Monday from Yushchenko and his supporters that the election was marred by widespread fraud. Under Ukrainian law, a president-elect cannot be inaugurated until official results have been published, which the government had planned to do on Friday.
On Wednesday, the commission declared Yanukovych the winner with 49.46 percent of the vote to Yushchenko's 46.61 percent, defying appeals from the United States and the European Union to delay such an announcement to allow time for a review and create space for a compromise.
Yushchenko's supporters have taken to the streets in vast numbers this week to protest the election's outcome. But a national strike that Yushchenko called for on Wednesday night appeared to have drawn little support, and it was not clear whether the opposition would be able to head off a Yanukovych presidency.
The court's ruling, however, gave a lift to the opposition campaign, while several significant cracks appeared in the government's hold on power, as workers, security service officers and journalists shifted to the Yushchenko camp.
"Yesterday we thought we were losing," said Sergei Gayday, a Yushchenko strategist. "Today, after this decision, we think we are winning."
In The Hague, where Russian President Vladimir Putin was meeting with European Union leaders, the Ukrainian elections were at the center of discussions. Putin, who has twice congratulated Yanukovych on his victory, said foreigners should not push Ukraine into "mayhem."
"I am deeply convinced that we have no moral right to push a big European state to any kind of massive disorder," said Putin, who has staked some of his political capital on a Yanukovych victory by twice visiting Ukraine before the elections to support the prime minister.
When Ukraine's Supreme Court, which has four branches and up to 100 judges, accepts a case, the decision of one of its panels cannot be appealed.
"Under the law, the government and the Central Elections Commission must accept the decision," said Yury Vasilenko, a judge in Kiev's appellate court and an opposition supporter who has clashed with the incumbent president, Leonid Kuchma. "Yanukovych has no legal grounds to contest this. The inauguration is suspended."
Kuchma, who is stepping down after 10 years in power, will remain president until a final ruling is handed down.
Before the Supreme Court decision, the government appeared determined to ignore the protests and Western pressure and to proceed with a transfer of power from Kuchma to Yanukovych, who continued to condemn the protesters and their supporters overseas.
"The Central Elections Commission has made its decision," Yanukovych said Thursday on state television. "I believe that resolving issues in the street, appeals to resolve matters through pressure or revolution are a deviation."
