KIEV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko urged a court on Friday to look carefully at a February 7 election she said was rigged, as she launched an appeal to block the inauguration of President-elect Viktor Yanukovich. "A new president will have legitimacy only when all the evidence, which has put it in doubt has been studied," Tymoshenko told Kiev's Higher Administrative Court. Yanukovich, 59, is due to be sworn into office on February 25 after beating Tymoshenko by 3.5 per cent in this month's run-off. But the 49-year-old premier said she was robbed of victory by cheating and is pressing for a fresh presidential vote, as happened in the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution', which ended with President Viktor Yushchenko being elected. Yanukovich, who was denied the top job by the 2004 wave of protests against electoral fraud, and his Regions Party have denied any wrongdoing in the February 7 run-off. Tymoshenko is also trying to get declared illegal the official declaration that Yanukovich was elected. Few commentators expect her to win and most believe the court will throw out the appeal in time for Yanukovich's inauguration to go ahead next Thursday. Tymoshenko, wearing a black dress with her hair plaited in its trademark peasant braid, sat next to Leonid Kravchuk, a former president, in the courtroom. Others supporting her in court included former foreign minister Borys Tarasiuk. "I am sure that an honest review of all the circumstances ... is required not only by me as a presidential candidate. I am sure that it is also required by the candidate who considers himself president," she told the court.
