Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych won Ukraine's presidential election, the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) officially declared Sunday.
In line with the official results, the election's second round on February 7 gave Yanukovych 48.95%, or 12,481,266 votes, while Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko garnered 45.47%, or 11,593,357 votes. A total of 4.36% voted against all.
All CEC members, including five Tymoshenko representatives, signed the protocol. The Tymoshenko team can contest the results in court within five days.
Tymoshenko has accused the Yanukovych camp of vote rigging and demanded a recount of votes at over 1,000 polling stations. On Saturday she announced on her personal website that the election of Yanukovych was illegitimate and "no matter how things develop further, he will never become the legitimately elected president of Ukraine."
Ukraine has been plagued by political rows since the 2005 elections.
In the past couple of years Tymoshenko, a leader of the "orange revolution" protests that overturned Yanukovych's tainted victory in 2004, openly squabbled with her former ally, outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko.
The feud badly damaged Ukraine's economy as it struggled with the global crisis, effectively forcing potential foreign creditors to hold back rescue packages because of domestic political turmoil.
Yanukovych has said Ukraine will focus on ties with Russia and other ex-Soviet states, but would also seek closer relations with the European Union and the United States.
KIEV, February 14 (RIA Novosti)
