Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Waiting - II

The wait is now for the announcement of the official election results by the CEC, and it looks as though the expected talks between Kuchma and the opposition will not take place. From the BBC:
Deputy head of Mr Yushchenko's headquarters Taras Stetskiv said the opposition wants Mr Kuchma to declare the elections as falsified and name Mr Yushchenko as president.

If the authorities fail to respond to these demands, the opposition "will paralyse the country", he said.

"There will be no trains or cars moving, and there will be a general strike," he added.

Meanwhile, it's reported that journalists and newsreaders have walked out in protest at censorship:
The IFJ said four newsreaders on Channel 1+1 had refused to read the news after complaining of "crude" censorship, forcing the station to drop certain news bulletins altogether.

Three newspapers had their distribution blocked in the days leading up to the election, while a fourth had 500 copies seized from sellers in northern Ukraine.

"The situation is very tense and we have extremely worrying reports about attempts to distort the news and control the media," said the IFJ general secretary, Aidan White.

"Many broadcast journalists are risking everything by refusing to bow to pressure and censorship".

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