Ukraine court rules electoral change unconstitutional

"The court has decided to find unconstitutional (those changes) that made it impossible for all citizens except invalids of the first category to vote outside polling stations," Mykola Selivon, head of the court, said in announcing the decision.

"The changes are ruled unconstitutional and annulled from the day of the ruling," Mykola Selivon, head of the court, said in announcing the decision.

The changes, the court said, meant that "different groups of one category of voters are put in non-equal conditions in terms of voting rights."

"The decision of the constitutional court is final and cannot be appealed," he said.

The court said it was up to the central election commission to ensure that Sunday's election complied with its ruling.

The decision means that in order to qualify for mobile voting, voters who are not able to travel to their polling stations for health reasons must inform their regional election commissions by 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) Saturday.

Ballots from such voters are collected at their homes or hospitals by officials from regional commissions on election day.

The ruling came a day before a presidential election rematch between Western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and his pro-Russia rival Viktor Yanukovich.

The election law changes were passed as part of a compromise between Yushchenko and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to resolve a tense standoff over a November runoff vote, which was announced as having been won by Yanukovich, but later thrown out because of massive fraud.