BREAKING NEWS ~ Ukraine high court bars publication of election results pending appeal News
BREAKING NEWS ~ Ukraine high court bars publication of election results pending appeal

[JURIST] BBC News is reporting that Ukraine's Supreme Court has barred official publication of the country's presidential election results until it has considered the opposition's appeal.

11:56 AM ET – The BBC now has a full story here. The English-language website of Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, which is being continually updated as events in the Ukrainian electoral crisis unfold, also reports these related late developments:

  • the Ukrainian National Bank executive has declared its support for Yushchenko
  • the Ukrainian Ministry of Education has announced that it will not prosecute students for participating in political actions and demonstrations.

Visit the Yushchenko website here (connections may be very slow due to high traffic).

6:23 PM ET – Yushenko's website has published a translation of his open address to the court:

You have witnessed gross violations of the constitutional right of the people to express their free will. You have witnessed that the Central Electoral Commission had refused even to examine those violations and announced the results of elections falsified by the government. You can see millions of people throughout Ukraine coming to the defense of the Constitution and the rights it guarantees.

The future of Ukraine, without exaggeration, depends on your decision today. With an honest decision you can bring the social processes back onto the constitutional course. Otherwise you will provoke the escalation of the public conflict in Ukraine.

I appeal to you to realize the level of responsibility laid upon you while examining the decision concerning the results of the presidential election. I appeal to you to act in good conscience and in accordance with the demands of the Constitution of Ukraine, to be governed by the interests of the people and not of the current government.

Read the full address here. After the announcement of the Supreme Court stay on announcement of the election results Yushchenko congratulated supporters at a rally in Kyiv's Independence Square. A Yushchenko spokesman later accused a leading Ukrainian newspaper of commiting a crime by publishing the election results contrary to the Supreme Court's order.

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