Anatoly Yarema

The court also said the government of President Leonid Kuchma, which backed pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, "illegally meddled in the election process" during the Nov. 21 ballot.

"The conclusion of the court is that the rules of the electoral law were broken and the exact result of the voters' will across the territory of Ukraine cannot be ascertained," said Chief Justice Anatoly Yarema, who read the decision on behalf of the 21-member panel.

In the runoff, exit polls showed Yushchenko with a strong lead, but the official count listed Yanukovych as the winner with 49.46 percent of the vote to 46.61 percent for Yushchenko.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 11, 2004
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