The Ukrainian Supreme Court today authorized the publication of the election results, striking the last obstacle to Viktor Yushchenko's assumption of the office of president.
Presiding Judge Anatoliy Yarema accepted a request by Yushchenko's lawyers to allow publication, during a hearing on the fourth round of complaints about the Dec. 26 election by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, according to the Web site. Yanukovych, 53, lost the vote. On Jan. 11, the Supreme Court blocked an official announcement of the result by the Central Electoral Commission, pending Yanukovych's final plea.
Today's ruling, permitting publication as early as Jan. 20, was based on a technicality, the Unian news service reported. Under electoral law, Yanukovych's appeal of the final result, lodged Jan. 14, must be decided on within five days, meaning a verdict is compulsory by tomorrow.
The ruling allows Yushchenko, 50, to set a date for his inauguration as the third president of the former Soviet republic since its independence in 1991, succeeding outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.
In a related story, Maggie sends this from Interfax:
The European Union (EU) may grant Ukraine market economy status, according to a report in the Financial Times.
"Ukraine's long-term hopes of joining the European Union were boosted yesterday when the European parliament voted overwhelmingly to open the door to possible membership," the newspaper wrote.
"Viktor Yuschenko, Ukraine's newly elected president, is likely to receive further support from the EU in the next few weeks as the European Commission prepares to improve trade relations. To reinforce support for Mr. Yuschenko, the European Commission said it hoped 'very soon' to be able to grant Ukraine 'market economy status', allowing exporters to avoid stiff EU anti-dumping duties on products such as steel and fertilizer," the FT wrote. "The market economy status would be granted to Ukraine conditionally, in order to send a positive signal while giving Mr. Yuschenko time to pass laws addressing the EU's remaining complaints," an EU diplomat said.
"Although the European parliament's vote was non-binding, it was a surprisingly strong endorsement of Ukraine's membership aspirations by the EU's directly elected assembly and the clearest sign yet to Kyiv that the EU's door is open," the article reads.
This is the same sort of designation that was accorded to Russia in 2002. While the UE will not grant Ukraine full member status, this may well signal a chance for Ukrainian assession to the EU.
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