Ukraine's Constitutional Court on Saturday overturned some electoral changes
passed by the parliament after a disputed presidential runoff on Nov. 21,
Ukraine's national news agency Ukrinform reported.
But the Central Election Commission (CEC) said the ruling will not affect the
start of the re-run scheduled for Sunday.
"Tomorrow's vote will take place," Yaroslav Davidovich, head ofthe CEC, told
a press conference Saturday.
"We will carry out the court's decision firmly. There is no alternative," he
said.
According to the ruling, those who cannot get to polling stations for health
reasons will be able to cast ballots at home or hospitals.
The ruling does not affect other newly adopted restrictions on absentee
balloting, which the opposition said resulted in vote-rigging in the November
runoff.
Davidovich said that to guarantee invalids to take part in the vote at home
was not a "problem."
The Constitutional Court's verdict came two days after the court began to
hear an appeal filed by 46 lawmakers, demanding that the court rules the revised
law "unconstitutional."
Ukraine's parliament passed the amendments to the election law on Dec. 8
after the opposition argued restrictions on voting from home were necessary to
minimize the chances of abuses and fraud inthe Dec. 26 repeat of the
presidential runoff.
Prime Minister and presidential candidate Yanukovych pushed for the scrapping
of the restrictions, saying they would deprive millions of their voting rights.
The opposition camp did not seem upset by Saturday's ruling. Opposition
presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's spokeswoman,Irina Gerashchenko, said
the court's decision will not hurt the legitimacy of tomorrow's election.
Sunday's re-vote was set after Ukraine's Supreme Court annulled the results
of November's vote, canceling the victory of Yanukovych. The court cited massive
fraud.
The presidential election has strained relations between Russiaand Western
countries as they favors Yanukovych and opposition presidential candidate Viktor
Yushchenko respectively.
