WASHINGTON - The White House said Monday that legislative elections in Ukraine appeared to have been "free and fair" and constrasted starkly with those recently held in Belarus.
"First of all, all indications are that this appears to be a free and fair election, and I think that's in stark contrast to what we saw in Belarus," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
He was referring to a March 19 presidential ballot in Belarus that saw authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko win a third term with a crushing 83 percent of the vote.
In Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko's party looked set to come in a humiliating third place in Sunday's parliamentary ballot, his first electoral test since he assumed power on the back of the mass "orange revolution" protests over a rigged presidential poll in late 2004.
Ukraine's main pro-Russian force, the Regions Party led by Viktor Yanukovych, the former premier forced to cede power to Yushchenko in the "orange" uprising, looked set to win Sunday's ballot.
03/27/2006 15:19 GMT