With just tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted in Ukraine 's bitterly fought presidential election , opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko basked in his unassailable lead while his pro-Russia opponent refused to concede defeat . 
   " I will never recognize such a defeat , because the constitution and human rights were violated in our country , " Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told reporters Monday evening . 
  Official results from Sunday 's vote - a rerun of an earlier presidential runoff annulled by the Supreme Court because of fraud - showed the pro-Western Yushchenko 52.0 percent to Yanukovych 's 44.2 percent , with ballots counted from 99.89 percent of precincts . 
 Turnout was 77.2 percent . 
  Once the election commission releases the final preliminary results , the candidates have seven days to appeal . 
  Supporters of the opposition candidate have vowed to remain at a tent camp on Kiev 's main avenue until Yushchenko 's inauguration . 
 As the camp came to life Tuesday morning , some watched a large television screen set up on a truck painted in Yushchenko 's orange campaign color . 
 Others scrutinized portraits of opposition leaders and protesters in an outdoor photo exhibit at the camp called " Free Kiev. "   " Ukraine is no longer the same . 
 The whole world has seen us gaining freedom and democracy , " said protester Mykola Yushchenko , wearing an orange kerchief around his head . 
  Yanukovych , who had been named the winner of the annulled Nov . 
 21 vote , said his campaign team had nearly 5,000 complaints about how the voting was conducted this time around . 
 He claimed 4.8 million had been disenfranchised , among them disabled and elderly voters who allegedly had been unable to cast ballots because of an election law reform that restricted home voting . 
 The Constitutional Court decided just on the eve of the vote to throw out the restrictions . 
  Yanukovych blamed the reform for leading to the reported deaths of eight elderly voters who went to the polls despite ill health . 
  He said he would demand that the election results be canceled , but said he had not asked his supporters to organize protests . 
   " We will act in accordance with the laws of Ukraine . 
 We will go down a legal path , " Yanukovych said . 
  Tension during the fiercely fought election campaign was fueled by the fraud allegations and Yushchenko 's claims to have been poisoned by authorities in an assassination attempt . 
 Doctors confirmed he was poisoned by a nearly lethal amount of dioxin , which severely disfigured him . 
  Yushchenko will need monthly blood tests to track how quickly the poison is leaving his body . 
 Experts say it is likely to dissipate quickly in the first few months but then slow down . 
 Doctors have said they expect a gradual recovery , although they fear an increased long-term risk of a heart attack , cancer or other chronic diseases . 
  If he is confirmed as president , Yushchenko will take the helm of a nation wracked by corruption and at odds with its largest trade partner , Russia . 
 The political team he must rely on is a cobbled-together coalition with vastly different ideas about how much power the presidency should have . 
  One of Yushchenko 's most stalwart allies , Yulia Tymoshenko , has said she wants the post of prime minister - but many Ukrainians , especially in pro-Yanukovych strongholds in the east and south of the country , dislike the lawmaker who has pushed a radical agenda . 
  The bitter campaign deepened the rift between Ukraine 's Russian-speaking , heavily industrialized east that backs Yanukovych , and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west , from where Yushchenko draws his support and where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep . 
  Yushchenko has said he will aim to end the hostility between eastern and western Ukraine within two years . 
  The opposition leader , a former Central Bank chief , has pledged to bring this nation of 48 million closer to the West by earning it a bigger role in international bodies such as the European Union ( news - web sites ) . 
 He said that under his leadership , Ukraine could aim at an associate membership in the EU in three to five years . 
  Russia , too , must be taken into account . 
 Moscow , which clearly supported Yanukovych in the campaign and is nervous about the eastward-expanding EU and NATO ( news - web sites ) , remains a giant investor in Ukrainian business , and Ukraine is a key consumer of Russian goods . 
  Yushchenko promised his first foreign trip as president would be to Moscow . 
  An official whom the opposition had accused of helping engineer the fraud , Transport Minister Heorhiy Kirpa , was found dead Monday with a gunshot wound , said Railways spokesman Eduard Zanyuk . 
 The opposition had claimed that Kirpa authorized allocation of special trains to ferry Yanukovych supporters from precinct to precinct to vote multiple times . 
 It was unclear whether the death was related to the election . 
  West-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko looked certain on Monday to become Ukraine 's next president , but his opponent , the prime minister , refused to concede defeat in the bitterly fought contest . 
  Yushchenko has promised to end rampant graft and reform the ex-Soviet state 's damaged economy . 
 He wants to align Ukraine with the West , fanning concerns in Russia that it will lose influence over a region where it has held sway for 300 years . 
  Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich , who won a rigged vote last month , angrily rejected conceding defeat in Sunday 's re-run and said he would lodge a challenge in the Supreme Court -- the same method used by the opposition to force Sunday 's re-run . 
  That threatens to prolong the nation 's five week crisis , although Yanukovich has failed to muster anywhere near the popular support that Yushchenko did . 
 He gave no details of evidence to back his case . 
  International observers gave their blessing to the re-run of the presidential election , saying it had been much fairer than the Nov . 
 21 poll which the Supreme Court quashed on the grounds of mass fraud . 
  Western neighbor Poland , traditionally a rival but now a member of the European Union ( news - web sites ) which Ukraine aspires to join , was the first country to congratulate Yushchenko . 
  The EU said the poll paved the way for stronger cooperation . 
 Outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma 's 10-year rule was marked by murky privatizations , widespread poverty and political scandals such as the unexplained beheading of an investigative reporter and suspected arms sales to pariah states . 
   " For 14 years we have been independent . 
 Now we have become free , " Yushchenko told supporters gathered overnight in Kiev 's Independence Square , site of more than two weeks of mass protests against November 's rigged election . 
   " The people proved their power . 
 They rebelled against probably the most cynical regime in eastern Europe. "  With more than 99.8 percent of votes counted , election officials said Yushchenko had won 52.03 percent against Yanukovich 's 44.16 percent . 
   " The Ukrainian elections have moved substantially closer to meet OSCE ( news - web sites ) standards , " Bruce George , head of an Organization for Security and Cooperation ( news - web sites ) in Europe monitoring mission , told a news conference . 
   " The people of this great country made a great step forwards to free and fair elections by electing the next president of Ukraine , " he said . 
  LEGAL CHALLENGE  However , Yanukovich said he would challenge the result . 
   " I will never recognize this defeat because there were violations of the constitution and of human rights in our country , " he told a news conference . 
  He said he had no confidence in the Supreme Court 's civil chamber which annulled his victory . 
   " I will demand that our appeal , which is being prepared , be examined by the entire collegium of the Supreme Court of Ukraine . 
 And that this should be done publicly , " he said . 
   " Only a blind man could have failed to see all the irregularities that occurred on election day. "  Ukraine 's top election official said he would defend any ruling by the Central Election Commission . 
   " Why should I be afraid of that ? " Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Commission head Yaroslav Davydovych as telling reporters . 
 " We can uphold our viewpoint in court , too. "  The poll was praised in the West . 
  Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites ) said the election appeared to have been full and free , calling it " a historic moment for democracy. "  EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the contest " opens the way toward strengthened cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. "  NATO ( news - web sites ) Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the election was " relevant to NATO 's political relationship with Ukraine " and its aim of promoting regional stability . 
  The outcome suggests Yushchenko , his face disfigured by dioxin poisoning which he blames on a spiked dinner with the security services , will have a big enough margin of victory to carry out a major overhaul of key institutions . 
  His powers will be weaker than Kuchma 's after a change in the law . 
 Building cross-party support in the split parliament will be crucial . 
 In particular he must win support from the Russian-speaking community in eastern Ukraine . 
  Late on Monday a government source said Ukrainian transport minister and one of Ukraine 's most prominent businessmen , Heorhiy Kyrpa , was found dead from a gunshot wound at his home outside Kiev . 
  Kyrpa has had close ties to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and at one time was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate . 
  eformer Viktor Yushchenko , whose victory in Ukraine 's presidential election was all but assured Monday despite his opponent 's threat to appeal the outcome , is expected to move quickly to bolster ties with the West while trying to ease tensions with Russia . 
   Yet there are questions about how fast he can open up to the European Union ( news - web sites ) , NATO ( news - web sites ) and other Western structures , pursue plans for an ambitious economic overhaul and tackle widespread corruption . 
  Six months of electoral wrangling have left the country bitterly divided between Ukraine 's west and a Russian-speaking east , a region that backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in Sunday 's vote and remains angry that his victory in a Nov . 
 21 ballot was overturned . 
 Yushchenko also heads a political coalition whose factions are not united in their goals . 
  With nearly all ballots counted from an election that saw a 77 percent turnout , Yushchenko had just over 52 percent of the votes and Yanukovych 44.2 percent . 
  Speaking at Kiev 's Independence Square , where mammoth crowds gathered for weeks to protest fraud in last month 's election , a jubilant Yushchenko told supporters : " Thousands of people that were and are at the square were not only waiting for this victory but they were creating it. "  Yanukovych refused to concede defeat , telling reporters he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results once the election commission released its final tally . 
  Later , however , he said he had lost respect for the court over its ruling that annulled the results of the earlier election , which Yushchenko 's camp , international observers and even members of the Central Electoral Commission assailed as fraudulent . 
   " It breached the constitution and the law , " Yanukovych said of the court . 
 " Today , I can't have faith in such a chamber. "  An international observer delegation said that with Sunday 's revote Ukraine had made good progress toward meeting international standards for elections . 
   " It is our judgment that the people of this great country have made a great step forward to free and fair elections by electing their future president , " said Bruce George , head of the delegation from the Organization for Security and Cooperation ( news - web sites ) in Europe , the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other election watchdogs . 
  Thousands of people celebrated on Independence Square on Monday night , but their numbers were far smaller than the hundreds of thousands who jammed the plaza at the height of the protests last month . 
 " Today is a golden day , " said Mykola Rak , a 62-year-old sporting an armband of orange , Yushchenko 's campaign color . 
  European leaders congratulated Yushchenko on his victory , and Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites ) called it a " historic moment for democracy in Ukraine. "  Powell also called on Russia to work with the Bush administration in helping this former Soviet republic . 
 " Let 's all join together now and see what we can do , " he said . 
  But there was no immediate comment on the election from the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin ( news - web sites ) , which backed Yanukovych . 
 Last month , by contrast , Putin repeatedly congratulated Yanukovych on his purported victory , even before the announcement of the final results that were later annulled . 
  Despite his leanings toward the West , Yushchenko must pay heed to the Kremlin and told journalists last week that " I have no intention of creating new problems " with Russia . 
 He said his first foreign trip as president would be to Moscow . 
  Russia is Ukraine 's biggest trade partner and a major investor here , and it is extremely nervous about eastward-expanding European institutions such as the European Union and NATO . 
 Eastern Ukraine , where just under half the country 's 48 million people live , also is intent on keeping close ties with the former imperial and Soviet ruler . 
  Yushchenko faces a rocky road as he prepares to become president , both medically and politically . 
    He was poisoned with a nearly lethal amount of dioxin , which he blamed on the government , and will need monthly blood tests to track how quickly the poison is leaving his body . 
 Doctors have said they expect a gradual recovery , although they fear an increased long-term risk of a heart attack , cancer or other chronic diseases . 
  The political team that Yushchenko is relying on to fulfill the dreams of millions of Ukrainians - who have turned his very name into a mantra of hope - is a cobbled-together coalition with vastly different ideas about how much power the presidency should have . 
  The coalition has cut its teeth in the rough-and-tumble Ukrainian parliament , where filibustering and dramatic walkouts regularly trump compromise . 
  One of Yushchenko 's most stalwart allies , Yulia Tymoshenko , has said she wants the post of prime minister - but many Ukrainians , especially in pro-Yanukovych strongholds , scorn the radical lawmaker who has pushed a radical political agenda . 
  The long campaign also has deepened the rift between Ukraine 's Russian-speaking , heavily industrialized east and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west , where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep . 
  Yushchenko has said he hopes to heal the hostile feelings within two years . 
  He " will have to be very attentive to this ( eastern ) region , to its problems because right now , they believe he is ignoring them , that he is hostile toward them , " said Darya Glushenko , a political analyst at the Kiev-based International Center for Policy Studies . 
  Yushchenko , a former Central Bank chief , has pledged to move Ukraine closer to the West . 
 He thinks Ukraine could possibly aim at an associate membership in the European Union within three to five years , but says any opening to NATO " has to be approached very patiently. "  Yushchenko has said he might take another look at some privatizations of state enterprises , including this summer 's sale of the country 's largest steel producer , Kryvorizhstal . 
 It was sold to a company controlled by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma 's son-in-law , Viktor Pinchuk . 
  On a more mundane level but one essential to maintaining popularity , Yushchenko will have to tackle the government 's $ 216 million budget deficit and inflation running at more than 10 percent a year . 
 He has said he intends to boost employment with public works , improved conditions for small- and medium-sized businesses , and an attack on corruption . 
  An official of the outgoing administration who had been accused of helping Yanukovych 's supporters vote at multiple polling stations in the Nov . 
 21 election was found dead of a gunshot wound Monday , a spokesman for the national railway said . 
  The body of Transport Minister Heorhiy Kirpa , 58 , was in his country house outside Kiev , spokesman Eduard Zanyuk said . 
 Ukrainian media speculated the death was a suicide , but Zanyuk said it was still under investigation . 
  WASHINGTON - Reveling in the apparent election of a pro-Western president in Ukraine , the Bush administration on Monday urged Russia to join with the United States in helping the former Soviet republic . 
 " Let 's all join together now and see what we can do , " Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites ) said . 
  Setting aside the vigorous backing Russian President Vladimir Putin ( news - web sites ) gave Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in his campaign for the presidency , Powell said , " I don't expect this to be a blot on U . 
S-Russian relations. "  The pro-Western candidate , Viktor Yushchenko , appeared to be the winner of a runoff Sunday after Ukraine 's Supreme Court threw out an earlier runoff Yanukovych victory amid U.S. and European allegations of widespread corruption . 
  While " some shortcomings remain , " Powell said , " it appears that the Ukrainian people finally had an opportunity to choose freely their next president. "   " This is an historic moment for democracy in Ukraine , " Powell said at a State Department news conference . 
  Rejecting any suggestion the Bush administration backed Yushchenko . 
 He said U.S.-funded organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy merely helped Ukrainian citizens to participate in open , free elections . 
   " All we wanted to see was a full , free , fair election , and that appears now to be what happened , " he said . 
  But Dimitri Simes , president of The Nixon Center , said there was much more to it than that . 
   " We were not just training observers and not just providing education to Ukrainian judges ,' Simes said . 
 " We were helping people in civil disobedience. "  Powell did not say explicitly what help the Bush administration , and by invitation Russia , might provide to a Yushchenko-led Ukraine . 
  But analysts had seen a victory by the pro-Western leader of the Orange revolution an opportunity for Ukraine to align itself more directly with European groupings . 
  Yanukovych , by contrast , was seen as looking eastward toward Russia . 
   " I am delighted , " said Radek Sikorski , director of the new Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute . 
 " A reformer and friend of the West and someone as levelheaded as Yushchenko has won and won convincingly. "  Sikorksi , a former deputy foreign minister of Poland , said the United States should signal Yushchenko that " if Ukraine wants to join the club of the democratic West it will be welcome. "  At the same time , Sikorksi in an interview urged Russia to " revise its attitude " toward former Soviet republics that " it patronizingly calls the Near Abroad. "   " Russia has to get used to the fact that Ukraine is an independent country , " he said . 
  Simes said that from the Western standpoint , Yushchenko was a better candidate , adding , " We should be pleased when he is certified the winner. "    " We should help him with Ukraine 's involvement in international institutions , " Simes said . 
 " But we should not promise more than we can provide and not encourage him to have an artificial conflict with Russia. "  Russia provides Ukraine with the bulk of its energy at subsidized prices , " and we should not gloat or provoke Moscow , " he said . 
  Europe 's human rights watchdog on Tuesday urged Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to accept defeat in his nation 's presidential elections , saying the victory by his Western-leaning opponent was clear . 
  Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has already claimed victory in Sunday 's rerun of Ukraine 's fraud-filled Nov . 
 21 presidential election , but the pro-Russian Yanukovych has not conceded defeat and has said he would demand the results be canceled . 
   " I will never recognize such a defeat , because the constitution and human rights were violated in our country , " Yanukovych told reporters Monday evening . 
  The official tally from the vote gave Yushchenko 52 percent compared to Yanukovych 's 44 percent , with 99.9 percent of precincts counted by Tuesday morning . 
 Turnout was 77.2 percent . 
 Once the election commission releases the final preliminary results , the candidates have seven days to appeal . 
  Yanukovych said his campaign team had nearly 5,000 complaints about how the voting was conducted . 
 He claimed 4.8 million had been disenfranchised , among them disabled and elderly voters who allegedly had been unable to cast ballots because of an election law reform that restricted home voting . 
 The Constitutional Court decided just on the eve of the vote to throw out the restrictions . 
  He promised to challenge the results of the vote , but said he had not asked his supporters to organize protests . 
   " We will act in accordance with the laws of Ukraine . 
 We will go down a legal path , " Yanukovych said . 
  From Strasbourg , France , the Council of Europe , the continent 's premier human rights watchdog , called on Yanukovych to accept defeat . 
   " I call on all parties to accept the verdict of the ballot box and to refrain from rhetoric which may fuel division in Ukraine , " Terry Davis , the council 's secretary general , said on Tuesday . 
   " The will of the Ukrainian people has been clearly shown . 
 It should put an end to the crisis in this Council of Europe member state , " Davis added in a statement . 
  He said Sunday 's vote , a rerun of the Nov . 
 21 ballot , has resolved Ukraine 's political crisis . 
 Ukraine 's Supreme Court annulled the results of November 's vote because of fraud . 
  Yushchenko supporters have vowed to remain at a tent camp on Kiev 's main avenue until his inauguration . 
 As the camp came to life Tuesday morning , some watched a large television screen set up on a truck painted in Yushchenko 's orange campaign color . 
 Others scrutinized portraits of opposition leaders and protesters in an outdoor photo exhibit at the camp called " Free Kiev. "   " Ukraine is no longer the same . 
 The whole world has seen us gaining freedom and democracy , " said protester Mykola Yushchenko , wearing an orange kerchief around his head . 
  Meanwhile , an official whom the opposition had accused of helping engineer the election fraud , Transport Minister Heorhiy Kirpa , was found dead Monday with a gunshot wound , said Railways spokesman Eduard Zanyuk . 
  The opposition claimed that Kirpa authorized allocation of special trains to ferry Yanukovych supporters from precinct to precinct to vote multiple times . 
  A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said it appeared Kirpa had committed suicide . 
 But the prosecutor general 's office said it was investigating whether foul play was involved . 
  Yushchenko is poised to take the helm of a nation wracked by corruption and at odds with its largest trade partner , Russia . 
 The political team he must rely on is a cobbled-together coalition with vastly different ideas about how much power the presidency should have . 
  One of Yushchenko 's most stalwart allies , Yulia Tymoshenko , has said she wants the post of prime minister - but many Ukrainians , especially in pro-Yanukovych strongholds in the east and south of the country , dislike the lawmaker who has pushed a radical agenda . 
  The bitter campaign deepened the rift between Ukraine 's Russian-speaking , heavily industrialized east that backs Yanukovych , and cosmopolitan Kiev and the west , from where Yushchenko draws his support and where Ukrainian nationalism runs deep . 
  Yushchenko has said he will aim to end the hostility between eastern and western Ukraine within two years . 
   " The problem is that a system has been created in which some ( business ) clans hold colossal power , " Yushchenko was quoted as saying in an interview published Tuesday in Russia 's Izvestia daily . 
 " This is an Asiatic model of oligarchic rule. "  The opposition leader , a former Central Bank chief , has pledged to bring this nation of 48 million people closer to the West by earning it a bigger role in international bodies such as the European Union . 
 He said that under his leadership , Ukraine could aim at an associate membership in the EU in three to five years .