Ukrainian election officials have formally declared opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko the winner of Sunday's rerun presidential election.
The final tally released Tuesday by the Central Election Commission gives Mr. Yushchenko 52 percent -- to 44 percent for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
But on Monday, as early results indicated a win for Mr. Yushchenko, Mr. Yanukovych refused to concede defeat. He said he will challenge the results in the Supreme Court, pointing to what he called thousands of polling violations.
The Kremlin-backed prime minister complained that recent election reform laws favored the pro-Western Mr. Yushchenko, who has already declared victory.
Ukraine's Supreme Court ordered the runoff because of massive fraud in the November 21st presidential election that was won by Mr. Yanukovych.
Information for this report is provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.