Ukraine challenger calls for strike over poll results

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters massed in Kiev’s Independence Square, braving the cold for the third straight day, he said the strike would be ‘‘our answer to the lawlessness of (outgoing President Leonid) Kuchma and Yanukovich’’.‘‘People will have to look for truth in the streets in open struggle,’’ he declared. Olexander Moroz, Socialist Party leader, said the opposition wanted to halt transport and close factories and schools but said the crisis could be resolved by holding new elections.

In the tense hours before the results were announced, Yushchenko showed signs of being ready for a compromise, calling for a rerun of the Sunday’s controversial election. ‘‘We are prepared to have rerun of the second round of presidential poll provided we have an honest Central Election Commission,’’ said Yushchenko who declared himself President and took an ‘oath of office’ on Tuesday. A later statement by Yanukovich that he did not want a ‘‘fictitious victory’’ had strengthened the view that a compromise was in the making.

But that mood changed with the announcement of the poll result.

Kuchma warned Ukraine faced the threat of civil war over its disputed presidential election and urged the world community not to interfere in the row.

Meanwhile, pro-Moscow Yanukovich’s headquarters also set up a Democratic Centre movement, saying that the movement’s goals would be to protect democratic freedoms and values.