Viktor Yanukovych, who preliminary results showed narrowly winning Ukraine's presidential election, on Wednesday urged his opponent, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to resign and move into the opposition, RIA Novosti reported.
"I am making a formal appeal to the prime minister to resign and move to the opposition," Yanukovych said in a statement posted on his Party of Regions' website.
With 100% of ballots counted from Sunday's presidential runoff, Yanukovych is 3.48% of votes ahead of Tymoshenko, a leader of the "orange revolution" protests that overturned his tainted victory in 2004.
Yanukovych said democratic leaders should acknowledge the popular will.
Tymoshenko's party has demanded a recount of the vote.
International monitors have praised the elections, which the United States on Tuesday called a step forward in the former Soviet state's democratic development.
The official results have yet to be announced, although the completed count gave Yanukovych the plurality of votes required to win.