Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday signed into law controversial legislation changing national election rules just three days before a national vote on his replacement, DPA reported.
The amendments, approved by a parliamentary majority on Wednesday evening and published on Yushchenko's website after his signature, would weaken the ability of minority regional election commission members to block majority decisions, thus lessening the possibility of deadlocked regional commissions.
More than 38,000 voting sites will operate in Ukraine on Sunday, each headed up by an election commission with members nominated, in proportional numbers, by parties with seats in parliament. Election commissions approve local vote counts and formally register voting law violations.
Before the change to the election law, a two-thirds majority of an election commission was required for the commission to approve a vote count or register a complaint.
Only a 50 per cent plus one member majority will be needed in the upcoming election, according to the law's text as published on the the government website.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the candidates in Sunday's run-off, called the election rules changes "the end of democracy in Ukraine," in remarks reported by Channel 5 television.
The change effectively removed the ability of election commission members loyal to Tymoshenko and her allies, typically between 35 or 40 per cent of total membership, from blocking an election commission decision by refusing to vote.
A parliament faction supporting Tymoshenko's opponent, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, joined with Communists and members of parliament from Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party to push the bill through the legislature.
Staff loyal to Yanukovych, Yushchenko and their allies typically account for 60 to 70 per cent of election commission membership, with precise numbers varying in each region.
The ability of a simple election commission majority to decide on vote counts or violations will enable election commission majorities loyal to Yanukovych, to skew voting results in his favour, Tymoshenko charged.
Yanukovych on Thursday morning told Kiev reporters the changes were necessary to prevent a Tymoshenko-led campaign to sabotage the upcoming election by ordering her election commission members to absent themselves on election day.
He would win fair and square and had no need to fix the election results, Yanukovych said.
The latest pre-election surveys give Yanukovych, a politician closely linked to big business, an edge over Tymoshenko of 8 to 11 percentage points. Tymoshenko is running on a anti-corruption ticket.
Tymoshenko on Thursday warned she would call for mass demonstrations if the results of the Sunday election were fraudulent.