Tymoshenko to contest some election results

She said they would first demand a recount of the vote in some polling stations and then take the issue to the courts.

KIEV, February 9, 2010 (AFP) - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will challenge some of the results in presidential elections won by her rival Viktor Yanukovych, aides said Tuesday.

Tymoshenko lost by over three percent to Yanukovych in Sunday's polls which were hailed by international observers as honest. But she has yet to show any sign of conceding defeat.

The deputy head of Tymoshenko's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) party, Olena Shustik, said that the decision to contest some results been taken at a meeting of the faction late Monday.

She said they would first demand a recount of the vote in some polling stations and then take the issue to the courts.

"If the result in the courts is positive, we will question the overall result of the elections," she said, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"We will do everything to prove that this election was falsified," added BYuT MP Sergiy Sobolev. "We will prepare appeals to the courts in the next days."

It was not immediately clear whether a challenge of select results was an administrative formality or signalled a broader rejection by Tymoshenko of the election outcome.

Independent Internet newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda said Tymoshenko at the meeting had declared that "I will never acknowledge the legitimacy of the victory of Yanukovych with such elections."

However it said a significant part of the party, including deputy parliament speaker Mikola Tomenko, was opposing her hard line and seeking to persuade her to acknowledge his victory and go into opposition.

Other top officials also spoke out at the meeting in favour of challenging the results.

Ukrainskaya Pravda is a highly respected Internet newspaper in Ukraine and keenly watched throughout the country.

Tymoshenko and her aides had alleged significant violations by the Yanukovych camp in the run-up to the vote and the prime minister had warned of mass protests if she detected fraud.

The fiery prime minister has not been heard from since the first official results from the vote were released showing Yanukovych in the lead. Her aides twice scheduled and then cancelled press conferences on Monday.