Standing firm: Yulia Tymoshenko
'Yanukovich is not my president'
Yulia Tymoshenko, who narrowly lost Ukraine's presidential election, today launched court action over the result, saying she would never accept the legitimacy of winner Viktor Yanukovich as the country's president.
"I will never recognise the legitimacy of of Yanukovich's victory with such elections," the Ukrainska Pravda daily cited Tymoshenko as telling a meeting of her party last evening.
Meanwhile, Tymoshenko's parliamentary faction today claimed there had been widespread fraud in Sunday's election.
"Voting day displayed a cynical violation of Ukrainian law by the teams of Yanukovich, pressure on the electors and a broad arsenal of falsification by the Regions Party," Reuters quoted Tymoshenko bloc deputy Serhiy Sobolev telling parliament.
"Consequently, the Tymoshenko bloc announces that we will defend in the courts our right, and the rights of our citizens, to honest and transparent elections," he said.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that some members of Tymoshenko's party disagreed with her, calling instead for her to acknowledge defeat, step down as prime minister and move into opposition.
Yanukovich, who won the election by a slender 2.9% margin with nearly all votes counted, has also called on Tymoshenko to concede defeat.
Western observers declared the elections to be broadly free and fair and in line with democratic standards.