Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has signed decree, ordering the dismissal of the government, the presidential press service said Wednesday.

The outgoing president also ordered the dismissed government to carry out duties until the establishment of the new Cabinet.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kuchma also accepted Viktor Yanukovych's resignation from the post of prime minister.

Kuchma's two decrees came five days after Yanukovych, who has refused to admit defeat in the Dec. 26 presidential rerun vote, said in a televised New Year Eve address on Dec. 31 that he has decided to quit the post.

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 results 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.

According to the preliminary results of the Dec. 26 presidential election released by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the opposition leader Yushchenko won the election with 51.99 percent of the vote against Yanukovych's 44.19 percent.

The CEC has said it would publish the official final election results within the next few days.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2005)