Yanukovich resigns

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said yesterday he was resigning his post and had little hope of successfully appealing preliminary results which show he lost a presidential election re-run.

Mr Yanukovich denounced Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the re-run of last month's rigged election and said in a televised New Year's address that it was pointless to stay on.

"In view of this, there is no point in staying on as prime minister. The political role of the Yanukovich government as a factor of stability in the past year is all but exhausted," he said. "I have taken the formal decision to resign."

Mr Yanukovich was initially declared winner of a November 21 run-off ballot against Mr Yushchenko, which prompted huge street protests by his rival's supporters alleging mass fraud. The Supreme Court later overturned the result and ordered a re-run.

Parliament early this month dismissed Mr Yanukovich, but he remained in office as outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who backed him in the earlier ballot, had not signed the necessary decree.

Mr Yanukovich, seated at a desk, repeated his position that he was the rightful winner of the original election and described the new ballot as a "profanation".

"We are still fighting, but I do not have much hope for any decisions from the Central Election Commission or the Supreme Court," he said of his continuing legal efforts to overturn the latest election results.

He said voters had been duped into accepting "the old regime with a new face, an emissary of a foreign state in our country".

He pledged to remain in politics but ruled out taking on "any position in a state under such an administration".