Ukraine's top court met Monday to tackle an election stalemate threatening to split the country but said it could take days to rule on the week-old crisis that has brought vast crowds of rival demonstrators onto the streets. 

Legal experts said the Supreme Court was unlikely to be able to satisfy either side in the bitter dispute over whether Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich won the November 21 presidential election by fraud, as alleged by his opponent Viktor Yushchenko.

"Examining the case could take anywhere from a few hours to several days, depending on how many representatives each side puts forward and the nature of their statements," court official Liana Shlyaposhnikova said just before the hearing started.

The court, Ukraine's highest legal body, consists of about 100 judges. Some 21 will sit for this case, their names kept secret until the last minute to guard against pressure on them.

About 100 people including judges in red robes, lawyers and reporters squeezed into a small courtroom in central Kiev.

Modern Ukraine does not have a tradition of an independent judiciary but Supreme Court judges have in the past been prepared to rule against the authorities.

Initially it refused to hear Yushchenko's case. But last Friday, it froze the election dispute by agreeing to examine it and, by barring official publication of the results, delayed Yanukovich's inauguration.

"There are so many options, so many nuances that implementing one of the court's rulings might prove extremely difficult," said Mykola Melnyk of the Supreme Council of Justice, overseeing Ukraine's court system.

"A ruling could even complicate attempts to resolve the conflict."

Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine's Central Bank, Serhiy Tyhypko, said yesterday that he had resigned from his position to engage in politics full-time, the Interfax News Agency reported.

Tyhypko had taken leave from his work since the summer to head the presidential campaign of Prime Minister Yanukovych.

On Sunday, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma ordered him to end his leave and go to work at the Central Bank.

"It is impossible to mix both duties," Tyhypko was quoted as saying.

In a statement, he also said he would resign from the post of Yanukovych's campaign manager, but did not elaborate.

Tyhypko, an economics minister and a ranking official in the pro-Yanukovych Working Ukraine party, accepted the post of governor of the Central Bank in 2002.

He was credited with maintaining the stable exchange rate of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnya, and maintaining a relatively low level of inflation.

The opposition had criticized Tyhypko earlier for allegedly using government funds during Yanukovych's campaign, something he vigorously denied.

It was not immediately clear what would be the immediate consequences of Tyhypko's resignation. Ukraine's economy is considered the fastest-growing in Europe.

(China Daily November 30, 2004)