Top court weighs Ukraine polls

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma meanwhile met with pro-Russian regional officials who had threatened to declare autonomy and said afterwards that any breakup of the country was unacceptable.

The campaign chief to pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the officially-declared winner of the election, said he was quitting both that post and his job as chief of the country's central bank and called for a fresh election.

The 21-judge Supreme Court panel began deliberating claims from opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko that the November 21 ballot to succeed Kuchma was rigged to ensure that Yanukovich emerged the winner.

Yanukovich, who favors stren-gthening traditional bonds with neighboring Russia, was officially declared the winner of the election. But Yushchenko, who seeks to anchor Ukraine more firmly in the western European camp, has challenged the validity of the vote.

A spokeswoman for the court, Liana Shlaposhnikova, said deliberations could take anywhere from several hours to several days.

Analysts say the court, whose judges serve for life, has shown independence from the government in the past and could meet opposition calls to annul the election results.

However it is not clear how long the hearing could last -- Yushchenko has demanded a new vote be held on December 12 -- or whether its decision will in fact resolve the standoff.

Justices can rule the election was fraudulent and annul in part or in full the results but do not have the jurisdiction to call for a new vote.

That can only be done by a central election commission which last week handed victory to the pro-Moscow candidate. And Yanuk-ovich's camp has already called the supreme court hearing illegitimate.