The old Communists apparently expect Ukraine Prime Minister “Weird Vik” Yanukovich will lose again, so the courts have stepped in with a last-second ruling to preemptively throw the election results in doubt.
On the eve of Ukraine’s hotly contested presidential vote, the nation’s highest court on Saturday threw out some of the election law changes aimed at battling fraud, a possible setback for opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
The Constitutional Court ruling poses a last-minute logistical challenge to election officials and could provide grounds for a protracted dispute over the results of the vote ? a repeat of a November vote that was thrown out because of fraud. …
Saturday’s court decision brought a new twist in the final hours before polls open. The court ruled that amendments allowing people with only certain disabilities to vote at home were unconstitutional, and it ordered that all who were unable to reach polling stations because of a disability or ill health be allowed to vote at home. …
The Central Election Commission was required to implement the ruling ? but it had less than 24 hours to do so, registering would-be voters and mobilizing workers to bring ballot-boxes to their homes. …
However, it appeared unlikely that the cash-strapped Ukrainian government would be able to quickly solve the logistical problems _ and that could become a basis for legal challenges to the election results.
Bringing ballot boxes into the homes of the disabled who can’t get themselves to the polls … I’m surprised that hasn’t been tried here yet.
