Ukraine is heading toward political uncertainty as defeated presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko plans to challenge last Sunday's election result in court, saying she has proof of cheating.
On Sunday, Ukraine's electoral commission declared Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian candidate, the winner of the Jan. 7 presidential elections. But rival Tymoshenko is not going down without a fight.
In a speech televised a day earlier, the Orange Revolution hero and ranking prime minister vowed to challenge the results in court. Tymoshenko said Yanukovych stole more than 1 million votes.
"Not going to the courts today would mean leaving Ukraine to the criminals," she said, adding, however, that she would not call her followers to the streets. "Ukraine now needs stability and calm like never before."
But stability — at least political stability — Ukraine won't get anytime soon.
With the decision to appeal the election results, Tymoshenko is delaying coalition talks at least a month.
Ukraine's courts will try to issue a verdict so Yanukovych can be formally inaugurated within the next 30 days. Observers say it's unrealistic that Tymoshenko will succeed in overturning the results but, even after the likely inauguration in about a month's time, coalition talks are set to remain difficult.
Yanukovych, the president-elect, has two main coalition options:
One is to join forces with the party of Tymoshenko — highly unlikely at the moment because of the fierce campaign war between both camps.
"Tymoshenko burned a lot of bridges," Volodymyr Kulyk, a Ukraine expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told United Press International in a telephone interview Monday.
The other is with the party of ousted President Viktor Yushchenko, who rose to power in 2004 after the Orange Revolution swept aside Yanukovych.
"Right now, Yanukovych is trying his very best to form a coalition with the party of Yushchenko and Tymoshenko is trying everything to prevent that," Kulyk said. "For both candidates, the first priority right now is not political stability."
A possible scenario is that of early elections if coalition talks fail. They could be conducted as early as June, Kulyk said.
Until then, the blocking atmosphere in Kiev could continue. Tymoshenko is not going to resign from her post as prime minister.
"It looks like the current government will be in power until June and during that time, it will not cooperate with the new president," Kulyk told UPI.
That means reforms to heave Ukraine out of its dire economic crisis will be delayed until after the summer.
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