Ukraine PM to challenge election result

Yanukovich's move was almost certainly a tactic intended to exploit the sole power base left to him -- given that outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has all but abandoned him since the original fraudulent runoff last month.

Liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko has an unassailable lead after Sunday's contest -- the third time Ukrainians have voted in less than two months -- proclaiming the ex-Soviet state finally free 14 years after independence from Soviet rule.

Setting down his broad objectives in a newspaper article, Yushchenko said the election -- and the mass protests in his favor preceding it -- had put an end to its post-Soviet era. He pledged to reach out to all parts of the country of 47 million.

Both men are still waiting for the formal result to be announced by the Central Election Commission. With 99.9 percent of votes counted, Yushchenko had 52.01 percent to Yanukovich's 44.18 percent.