KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine prepared for a crucial runoff presidential vote that pits a pro-Russia prime minister against a Western-leaning opposition leader as Washington warned Kiev of consequences if the poll was rigged.
President Leonid Kuchma is stepping down after a decade in power and Sunday`s election has polarised this strategic 48-million-strong former Soviet republic between those who favour closer ties with Russia and supporters of Western integration.
Former reformist prime minister Viktor Yushchenko is neck-and-neck with Kuchma`s protege, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, but the opposition claims the authorities will use massive fraud to deny them victory.
In a sign of the high stakes involved, US President George W. Bush told Ukraine that Washington would review its relations with Kiev if the presidential vote was not fair, according to a letter to Kuchma released here by the presidency.
"A peaceful transfer of power to your successor will be in the interests of Ukraine, Europe and the entire world and will open new prospects for relations between our two countries," the letter says according to the Ukrainian translation.
"In the opposite scenario, we will be obliged to review our relations with Ukraine and with the individuals who participated in fraud and manipulation," Bush added.
The United States has been careful to avoid publicly endorsing Yushchenko, but calls for a democratic vote amount to exactly that, as international observers had slammed the use of administrative resources to support the official candidate in the first round on October 31.
Russia, which has been rebuilding its dominance of its former Soviet empire under its authoritarian-leaning leadership, has been open in its support of the pro-Kremlin Ukrainian prime minister.
President Vladimir Putin, who twice visited Ukraine during the campaign in a show of support for Yanukovich, sent his close ally, parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov, to Kiev for Sunday`s vote.
Bush dispatched US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar to Kiev to observe the poll and the senator met with the head of Ukraine`s electoral commission Saturday to discuss the election procedure.
With analysts warning that a Yushchenko victory would be a slap in the face for Russia, Gryzlov sought to hedge Russia`s bets.
"Regardless of the outcome of the election, Ukraine should remain a single powerful state and Ukraine and Russia good neighbors," Gryzlov told reporters in Kiev after meeting with Kuchma late Friday.
With campaigning banned on the eve of the vote, the only sign of political activity in the capital on Saturday were orange ribbons attached to cars -- the colour of the opposition.
Yushchenko, 50, is hugely popular in the nationalist Ukrainian-speaking west, while the 54-year-old Yanukovich draws his support from the heavily industrialised Russian-speaking east.
The economy is a key issue in the campaign. Despite booming growth, corruption is rife and much of the population is impoverished.
But the biggest dividing line is where Ukraine should look -- east to Russia, or west to Europe.
Yanukovich, who has promised to make Russian a second official language and allow dual citizenship, supports the formation of an economic union with Russia and two other major ex-Soviet states.
Yushchenko says he sees Ukraine`s future in Europe and has set the goal of starting membership talks for the European Union and the Brussels-based NATO military alliance within three to five years.
Tension is high as the opposition leader has vowed to bring "millions" onto the streets in case of fraud, but the government could bus in miners from the east, setting the scene for violent clashes.
Polls will open at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) on Sunday at the 33,000 polling stations across the country, and exit polls will be published right after the close of voting at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), with results due early Monday.
Thirty-seven million Ukrainians are eligible to vote in the presidential ballot, which will be monitored by nearly 5,000 international observers.
11/20/2004 - 16:44 GMT - AFP