Yushchenko declares victory in Ukraine re-vote "substantially closer" to international standards News
Yushchenko declares victory in Ukraine re-vote "substantially closer" to international standards

[JURIST] With more than 98% of Sunday's vote counted, Ukrainian election officials have announced that opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has an undefeatable lead of 52% in the country's third presidential election since October 31. Yushchenko thanked his supporters and called on them to take to the streets to defend his victory. Yushchenko's challenger, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, received 44% of the vote, but has not yet conceded and has alluded to an appeal. Election monitors saw far fewer problems in this round of elections, with 77% of the nation going to the polls. The OSCE said in a statement Monday that the process this time was "substantially closer" to meeting international standards than the previous vote. Reuters has more.

11:31 AM ET = The Ukraine Central Election Commission website is reporting that with 99.63% of polls reporting, Yushchenko leads Yanukovych by 52.1% to 44.11%. Review the latest results in English here.