Yushchenko signs Regions’ election law amendments

President Viktor Yushchenko signed into law yesterday amendments to the presidential election law, which were initiated by the Party of Regions, whose leader Viktor Yanukovych is contending in the election on Sunday. The legislative changes repealed the requirement for election commissions at polling stations to have 2/3 quorum to meet. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the other candidate, has branded the last minute amendments an attempt to derail the election in Yanukovych’s favor. Regions’ deputies argued the law was necessary to prevent Tymoshenko’s commission representatives from sabotaging vote counts. Brad Wells: Yushchenko wasted no time and on the first day the bill hit his desk, as we expected, signed it into law. The attempt to push through controversial changes to election law, which one candidate so clearly opposes, just days ahead of the vote is suspicious, to put it mildly, and only fuels tensions, significantly increasing the specter of legal challenges to the election results.