Timetable for Ukrainian presidential re-run unveiled

Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC) unveiled on December 11 the timetable for the presidential re-run on Dec. 26, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

According to the timetable, the final results will be known on Jan. 10 and officially published three days later.

A commission must be formed before next Wednesday to oversee the ballot issue, the CEC's press service said. A ballot form should be approved and the CEC is also to name candidates for regional electoral commissions, which must be formed before next Friday,

The deadline for nominating candidates for district electoral commissions is Dec. 18, by which time each constituency must decide whether absentee ballot voting -- an electoral process arranged for those who cannot vote at polling stations where they were registered -- will take place in the constituency.

Applications for registration of official observers of the presidential candidates must be filed to regional electoral commissions by Dec. 23, and final decisions on changes in commission makeup can be taken by the day.

Ballots must be handed over to regional electoral commissions by Dec. 23, the press service said.

Also on Saturday, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said he "would exert every effort to ensure that the presidential election takes place on Dec. 26 and that the power is handed over peacefully without shocks shortly after the election results are officially announced."

Ukraine was plunged into a political turmoil after the presidential run-off on Nov. 21, when both candidates -- pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko -- claimed victory.

Ukraine's Supreme Court on Dec. 3 annulled the official results of the run-off, with Yanukovich being the winner and ruled that a re-run would be held on Dec. 26.

Source: Xinhua