You're reading: Voice of America: Tymoshenko refuses to end hunger strike

Ukraine's jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is refusing to end a hunger strike she began this week to protest alleged widespread vote irregularities in Sunday's parliamentary polls, which have been described by U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “a step backward” for the nation's democracy.  

Ms. Tymoshenko — in custody at a hospital in northeastern Ukraine — called election tallies favoring the ruling party of political arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych “a total falsification.” Her refusal to eat was relayed by opposition party leaders outside the hospital in Kharkiv, and amplified in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

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