Снимка: Chernobylee.com

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The stage is being set for a post-electoral dispute in Ukraine after the villain of the Orange Revolution, Viktor Yanukovych, won by a tiny margin on Sunday (8 February).

The Central Election Commission in Kiev confirmed on Monday morning that with 92.14 percent of the votes counted, he scraped through by just 2.6 percent.

Mr Yanukovych claimed victory on Sunday night and called on his second round opponent, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to resign from her post. "From this day, a new path opens up for Ukraine," he said.

Ms Tymoshenko is planning to make a statement at around noon local time.

Reports indicate that the streets were all but empty in the Ukrainian capital early on Monday morning, where temperatures stood at nine below zero. The only protest during the weekend was by four topless feminists calling for fair elections.

Ms Tymoshenko has already begun accusing Mr Yanukovych of fraud, however. Last week, she said a last-minute change to the electoral law would help him to rig ballots. Over the weekend, she said doctors had forced hospital patients to vote his way.

A court battle over the results could deepen the country's financial crisis and endanger its ability to keep exports of Russian gas flowing to the EU.

It would also damage the prospects of signing an Association Agreement and a free trade deal with the union.

In the worst case scenario, political instability could spill onto the streets. Mr Yanukovych has secured a permit for a 50,000-strong gathering in central Kiev this week. In a more sinister turn, Ukrainian security services on Friday arrested a man carrying explosives.

Mr Yanukovych is often called Russia-friendly and his victory is widely considered to be a reversal of the Orange Revolution, which ousted him from power in 2004.

But Ms Tymoshenko has also grown close to the Kremlin over the past five years. Both candidates say they want better relations with Russia and to continue with EU integration.

Meanwhile, the spiritual leader of the revolution, President Viktor Yushchenko, lost heavily in the first round on 17 January, marking the end of an era in post-Soviet Europe.

The Yushchenko-loyal foreign minister, Petro Poroshenko, at a security conference in Munich on Saturday said the president will leave behind an important legacy.

"We believe that the transfer of power to a new president will be democratic, civilised and transparent, in strict compliance with European democratic standards. For the last years such practice has become an inseparable norm of our political life," he explained.

The minister sounded a note of caution at the end of his speech, however, adding: "I hope ...that I am not the only optimist in this regard."