Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Thursday she doesn't believe that presidential elections winner Viktor Yanukovych will keep his pledge to raise living standards.
Yanukovych narrowly won Ukraine's presidential election with 48.95% of the vote, with his rival Tymoshenko garnering 45.47%, according to preliminary results announced on Wednesday after election authorities finished counting ballots following Sunday's runoff.
Tymoshenko has said she will challenge the results in court, citing fraud allegations.
"No one in Yanukovych's team will do anything to raise social standards," Tymoshenko told a cabinet meeting.
Yanukovych previously urged Tymoshenko to resign and move into the opposition, saying democratic leaders should acknowledge the public will.
Ukraine has been plagued by political rows since the 2005 elections.
In the past couple of years Tymoshenko, a leader of the "orange revolution" protests that overturned Yanukovych's tainted victory in 2004, openly squabbled with her former ally, outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko. The feud badly damaged Ukraine's economy as it struggled with the global crisis, effectively forcing potential foreign creditors to hold back rescue packages because of domestic political turmoil.
International monitors have praised the elections, which the United States on Tuesday called a step forward in the former Soviet state's democratic development.
Yanukovych said Ukraine would focus on ties with Russia and other ex-Soviet states, but would also seek closer relations with the European Union and the United States.
KIEV, February 11 (RIA Novosti)
