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Kuchma Calls for Negotiations on Disputed Presidential Election - 2004-11-23


Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is calling for negotiations to resolve the crisis over Sunday's disputed presidential elections.

In a televised address Tuesday, Mr. Kuchma called on all political forces in the former Soviet republic to immediately enter into talks.

The appeal came after about 200,000 opposition supporters marched on the presidential office in Kiev to demand that their candidate - Viktor Yuschenko - be declared the winner of the election. Official preliminary results showed the pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych winning the vote.

Mr. Kuchma, a backer of the prime minister, called the protests a "political farce" that he says could lead to "unforseeable consequences."

U.S. and European observers reported indications of extensive voter fraud in Sunday's vote. Russian President Vladimir Putin called European criticism inadmissible because final results have not been announced.

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