Ukrainian PM accuses opposition rival of being "totalitarian"

Ukraine's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday accused his opposition rival Viktor Yushchenko of using "methods typical of totalitarian sects," while Yushchenko blamed him for trying to disrupt the Dec. 26 rematch.

"Our opponents are counting on assuming power by force instead of democracy," said Yanukovych in a statement read to reporters.

Yanukovych, who is on leave for election campaign, also reproached the West for intervening in Ukraine's elections.

"I am surprised by the shortsighted position of European countries which support here, on the European territory, the use of fancy political methods typical of totalitarian sects," he said.

The Ukrainian Supreme Court on Dec. 3 invalidated the Nov. 21 presidential runoff in which Yanukovych claimed victory and calledfor a new vote on Dec. 26.

The court made the ruling after the opposition insisted that the polls were rigged in favor of Yanukovych.

The European Union and the United States backed the opposition's claims. The European People's Party, the largest grouping in theEuropean Parliament, endorsed Yushchenko for the December polls onThursday.

The prime minister also claimed that the mass protests Yushchenko organized were an attempt to forcefully seize power.

The Moscow-supported Yanukovych, however, said: "as a presidential candidate and prime minister I have never put Ukraine's European choice in doubt."

Meanwhile, Yushchenko, the opposition leader, accused Yanukovych of trying to disrupt the Dec. 26 vote.

"The main task of Yanukovich is to try to disrupt the December26 elections," he charged.

Yushchenko also vowed to legalize Ukraine's economy if he couldwin the presidency, saying that strict enforcement of the law would accompany economic measures.

"The first task is to make our national economy more legal," Yushchenko said at a press conference, claiming that "55 percent of the national economy is the shadow economy."

He accused Yanukovych 's government of fiscal mishandling of which the consequences would be felt for a long time.

Calling Ukraine's large state-run firms "the most corrupt sectors of the state economy," Yushchenko said insiders have takenaway profits from these firms while a minimal contribution was made to the state.

Source: Xinhua