Kyiv City Council Has No Confidence In Election Results

Kyiv, 22 November 2004 -- News agencies are reporting that Kyiv's city council has expressed no confidence in official results that give yesterday's presidential election victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

News agencies say the city council has urged parliament not to recognize the Central Election Commission's figures, which show Yanukovych beating his rival Viktor Yushchenko by roughly 49 to 47 percent.

Earlier, city council officials in the western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk recognized Yushchenko as Ukrainian president, also expressing no confidence in official vote figures.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of opposition supporters are gathered in Kyiv, protesting the official results. Security there is tight, with police guarding the Central Election Commission building.

(RFE/RL Ukrainian Service/Interfax-Ukraine/ITAR-TASS/Reuters/AFP/dpa/AP)