Ukraine opposition party complains of "stolen" votes

Tension is continuing to simmer in Ukraine after last weekend’s disputed parliamentary elections. Opposition supporters tried to stop police from moving voting records from the election commission’s offices in one southern district. The police said they were obeying a court order to carry out a recount. One opposition party has accused the ruling Party of Regions of “stealing votes”. Boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko of the liberal party UDAR, which means “punch”, said: “We will do everything to defend the (real) results of the election. If manipulations (over vote counting) continue we will do everything to make sure this election is declared null and void.” “Most of violations are currently happening in constituencies where there is a real war going on,” he added. On Friday the party of President Yanukovich looked set to win a comfortable parliamentary majority. The largest opposition party Batkivshchyna, that of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has called for an official investigation into claims of fraud. International observers found no fault with the voting process but said the ruling party had an unfair advantage during the campaign.