Ukraine to prepare for a new election

&to=http:// english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/10/22/38499.html ' target=_blank>Ukraine's Supreme Court on Friday invalidated the official results of the disputed presidential runoff election and ruled that a repeat vote must be held, bringing cheers from opposition supporters massed in Kiev's main square.

The short timeframe set for a new vote appeared to rule out the possibility of holding an entirely new election, as sought by outgoing President &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/05/27/29324.html ' target=_blank>Leonid Kuchma, says CBS News.

According to the ABC News, Ukraine begins preparing on Saturday for a new election after its highest court annulled a rigged poll, breaking a political deadlock and triggering a night of ecstatic street celebrations in Kiev.

Liberal opposition leader &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/mailbox/ 22/101/399/14639_yushchenko.html ' target=_blank>Viktor Yushchenko appeared well-set for victory in the new ballot on Dec. 26 after emerging triumphant from a 12-day "people's power" campaign to overturn the results of a presidential election he had hotly disputed.

In the center of the capital a boisterous party erupted after Yushchenko told his supporters the court ruling had been a victory for their "orange revolution."

"Ukraine is henceforth a true democratic state," he declared to a crowd on Kiev's Independence Square, where his supporters, clad in his orange campaign colors, have thronged for the past 12 days.