Defeated Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko says the election last week was rigged, and she vows to challenge the result in court.
Tymoshenko ended six days of silence since the Feb. 7 ballot with a live appearance on television Saturday night.
Preliminary results from the election gave opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych a narrow lead of 3.5 percentage points.
International observers described the election as free and fair, hurting Tymoshenko’s chances of mounting a successful court challenge.
Tymoshenko declared that she had proof of cheating in the presidential election by Yanukovich and she would challenge his election through the courts. She asked Ukrainians to support her legal battle to overturn the elections
At the same time she promised not to call people out in mass protests as she did when she successfully challenged his election in 2004 in the Orange Revolution. "I will not call another ‘Maidan’ (Independence Square demonstration) and will not allow public protests," she said.
"I want to clearly state: Yanukovych is not our president. Whatever happens in future, he will never become the legitimately elected president of Ukraine," she said in a televised broadcast to the nation.
