Ukraine PM defies pressure to concede defeat

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday broke more than three days of silence after her defeat in presidential elections, slamming her rival but still defying mounting pressure to concede.Speaking before a cabinet meeting with her golden hair braid tied as usual on her head, Tymoshenko made no mention of the election result and instead accused winning candidate Viktor Yanukovych of deceiving Ukraine with promises.Yanukovych beat Tymoshenko by almost 3.5 percent in Sunday’s vote but the prime minister’s party has alleged that substantial fraud casts doubt on the outcome, raising fears of a prolonged political crisis in the country.

However international observers and Western states hailed the vote as fair and clean.With political tensions showing no sign of slackening, thousands of Yanukovych supporters maintained a picket outside the central election commission Thursday with the aim of ensuring the results were not changed.“Today it is clear that no one from the Yanukovych team is intending to raise social standards. This was just PR,” Tymoshenko told her cabinet, commenting on a parliamentary bill Yanukovych’s party had failed to support. -AFP