KIEV (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of pro-Western and pro-Russian activists mobilized across Ukraine as the former Soviet republic headed into a stormy weekend vote that Washington warned would spark unspecified "measures" if rigged by the state.
Both sides braced for a night of violence following the vote Sunday as this nation of 50 million picks a successor to President Leonid Kuchma -- a leader who over his decade-long term sided with Moscow.
Kuchma has entrusted his chosen successor, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, to stay the same course.
But the opposition has sensed that Sunday offered an unprecedented chance to finally open up Ukraine to Europe and secure protection from Russia by the US-led NATO alliance.
Their candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, is running neck-and-neck with the prime minister despite blanket state media coverage for Yanukovich and nationwide police crackdowns against pro-Western and anti-Russian rallies.
A victory by Yushchenko could initiate the transformation of Ukraine from a bridge between Moscow and the West into a member of the European Union -- shifting liberal Europe's center of gravity closer to Russia's border.
Yushchenko predicted victory Friday and his supporters organized a demonstration at Kiev's historic Independence Square opposite government headquarters for Monday morning that they say could see up to 600,000 people show up on the streets.
"They are preparing to grab power ... at the expense of blood that may be spilled at the barricades to which the opposition is calling ordinary Ukrainians," Yanukovich warned.
"Ukraine does not need a leader who grabs power at the expense of people's lives," he said in a three-page address to the nation published by his campaign headquarters.
The opposition called for a Sunday night vigil outside central election commission headquarters that authorities said was illegal and which youth support groups said could be used as an excuse to annul the vote.
Meanwhile both Yushchenko and Kuchma were due to issue simultaneous appeals to the voters Friday at 9:00 pm (1800 GMT).
"Even if they try to cheat, I think I should be able to collect 60 percent of the vote," Yushchenko told reporters.
"People have an amazing feeling right now that they are holding the future in their own hands, that they are in control and that no one can stop them," he said.
The United States has threatened to take unspecified "measures" against the Ukrainian government if Sunday's presidential vote is rigged in favor of the state.
"If the election fails to meet international standards, a variety of measures to hold officials responsible for electoral misconduct accountable will be considered," the US representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement released in Vienna and Kiev.
Yushchenko said he has been forced to move his family out of the Ukrainian capital because his five children have received repeated death threats and no longer felt safe.
"My older daughter is pregnant and I won't try to hide now how many times she has been threatened in the past few days."
Yushchenko himself suffered a severe case of poisoning last month that briefly paralyzed and disfigured his face and forced him out of the campaign for several weeks.
An Austrian clinic said tests on whether Yushchenko was intentionally poisoned have proven indecisive so far.
The two leading candidates may yet face off in a November 21 runoff but Yushchenko was already plotting policy Friday that envisioned membership in both the European Union and NATO within the coming years.
"We must prepare for the European option," said Yushchenko, who headed Ukraine's central bank chief for seven years before serving for nearly two years as prime minister, a post he lost after launching an anti-corruption campaign.
"First, I want Ukraine to be recognized as a market economy, and then as a provisional member of the European Union."
10/29/2004 - 17:56 GMT - AFP