KIEV, Nov 22 (AFP) - Senator Richard Lugar, the senior US observer of the Ukrainian presidential elections said Monday that the government helped rig the vote in favor of the pro-Moscow prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich.
"It is now apparent that a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities," Lugar, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.
"I believe that President (Leonid) Kuchma has the responsibility and the opportunity for producing, even at this point, an outcome which is fair and responsible," added Lugar, who was sent by President George W. Bush to monitor the election.
With votes counted from 99.14 percent of polling stations, the pro-Russian prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, secured 49.42 percent of the vote, compared with 46.69 of Western-leaning Yushchenko.
Yushchenko has protested the results, which have also been condemned as undemocratic by observers from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.
11/22/2004 14:34 GMT - AFP