Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has refused to concede defeat in a presidential rerun vote, said Friday he has decided to quit the post. (Photo: Xinhua)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has refused to concede defeat in a presidential rerun vote, said Friday that he has decided to quit the post.

"I have made the decision to submit my formal resignation," Yanukovych told a televised New Year's Eve address.

To remain on the post of prime minister "has no more sense," henoted. He vowed to remain in politics but would take on no position "in a state under such an administration."

"I will act as an independent politician, as the rightful winner of the legitimate Nov. 21 election," he said, adding that he and his team would work "only by legal means."

Yanukovych won a disputed Nov. 21 presidential run-off triggering a weeks-long protest by rival Viktor Yushchenko's supporters. The Supreme Court later annulled the election result after the Yushchenko team filed an appeal demanding that the vote be declared invalid due to massive fraud.

The court also ruled for a re-vote of the Nov. 21 run-off to beheld on Dec. 26.

The preliminary results of the Dec. 26 presidential election released by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on Tuesday gave Yushchenko a win with 51.99 percent of the vote against Yanukovych's 44.19 percent.

However, Yanukovych has said he will never concede defeat, pledging not to quit his post of prime minister despite mounting pressure from the opposition.

On Thursday Yanukovych's last-ditch efforts to keep power were dealt twin blows after the Supreme Court rejected all of his four complaints about the inactivity of the CEC during voting in Sunday's presidential election re-run and after the CEC rejected his 27-volume appeal to demand the election be declared invalid.

Yanukovych announced his resignation after acknowledging that his appeals to election authorities and the Supreme Court stood little chance of success.

Yanukovych had looked increasingly isolated without a power base or any sign of backing from voters in his stronghold in eastern Ukraine to keep fighting to overturn the outcome.

Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who backed Yanukovych in the earlier ballot, called on the nation during his New Year address to "accept the democratic choice" made in the presidential poll.

"In 2005 Ukraine will have a new president and the whole Ukraine must accept this democratic choice as its own -- because this man will need your support," he added without naming the election's declared winner Yushchenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, quick to congratulate Yanukovych on the tainted vote, has been silent this time.

Canada, influential with its 1 million ethnic Ukrainians, pledged to help Yushchenko develop democratic institutions and theEuropean Union has offered similar promise.

Hours after Yanukovych said he was resigning his post but refusing to concede defeat, the United States said it still hoped for quick, fair election results in Ukraine.

"We've seen reports that Yanukovych has resigned," said Lou Fintor, a State Department spokesman. "We also understand he is continuing his Supreme Court challenge" to a presidential electionre-run last Sunday.

"Our focus continues to be a quick, fair and transparent resolution of the election that reflects the will of the Ukrainianpeople," Fintor said.

If Yanukovych chooses to continue with his appeals over the results of the vote, which he contends was marked with irregularities, Yushchenko's official confirmation as the winner could be put off for weeks as the legal wrangling drags on. Final results can only be announced after all appeals are exhausted.

Meanwhile, Yanukovych's winning rival Yushchenko already began laying out a road map for his first 100 days in office and told Ukrainians in his New Year's greetings: "The vote has changed the country and it changed us."

Yushchenko is prepared to greet the new year with his supporters on the Independence Square, the focus of the past weeks' "orange revolution" by protesters in Yushchenko's campaign colors, where at least 100,000 were expected for festivities as Ukrainians appeared eager to put weeks of turmoil behind them.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who studied law in Kievin the late Soviet years and came to Kiev Friday for a two-day private visit at the invitation of Yushchenko, was due to usher inthe new year together with Yushchenko on the square.