KIEV, Dec 8 (AFP) - With tears in his eyes, hand on his heart and neck wrapped in a trademark orange scarf, Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko hailed tens of thousands of supporters Wednesday for playing a key part in his orange revolution.
"After 17 days of peaceful protest, we have claimed victory," Yushchenko told a cheering crowd in Kiev's central Independence Square.
"We are grateful to all those who helped make Ukraine's orange revolution a reality," he said, flanked by his allies and family.
Throughout those protests, which followed a disputed presidential election on November 21, Yushchenko's supporters have swamped Kiev with the color of his campaign -- they have waved orange flags, wore orange clothes, tied orange ribbons and hung orange signs.
The protests catalputed the dispute over what the supreme court eventually ruled was a fraud-riddled vote to worldwide attention, as orange-clad Yushchenko supporters blocked government buildings in Kiev, massed on its central square and set up a tent city on its main thoroughfare.
"These were great days and there is no longer a place left in the world that doesn't know where Ukraine is," Yushchenko told to approving roars from the crowd.
"We have filled in that gap in primary education!" he said to laughter from the crowd.
"After 17 days of peaceful protests, we have felt ourselves become a European nation," he said, as the crowed erupted into chants of "Yu-shchen-ko!" and "Way to go!"
Fireworks exploded over the night sky after his speech, as a rap song that's become the hymn of the "orange revolution" blared from loudspeakers set up on the square after his speech.
Yushchenko spoke just hours after parliament passed legislation that broke a tense standoff between him and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.
The historic parliament vote smoothed the way for a new presidential election on December 26, a rematch with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich that Yushchenko looks increasingly likely to win.
The poll was set after the supreme court annulled a victory by Yanukovich in a November 21 vote because of massive fraud in favor of the ruling party candidate.
Yushchenko told his supporters -- many of whom have massed in Kiev round the clock since November 21 -- to return home and work to ensure there was no fraud in the December election.
"We must only think about one thing now -- December 26," he said, urging his supporters to sign up for the local election commission to ensure the vote was transparent and fair.
"Each one of you must take part in this work," he said.
The bill passed by parliament Wednesday contained a controversial plan to weaken the presidency, backed by Kuchma, and changes to the electoral law, pushed by Yushchenko to guard against possible fraud in the December 26 vote.
Immediately after the vote Yushchenko told reporters it was "a day of compromise that ... opens the way for my victory."
12/08/2004 19:24 GMT - AFP