Another opposition leader Yuliya Timoshenko also urged Ukrainian people to stage a civil disobedience campaign. “Stop your work, studies, come to the streets, pitch tents everywhere. I know we will win. Yushchenko is our president. It is impossible to stifle freedom,” she said. Ms. Timoshenko called for the transfer of power to the Ukrainian parliament.

About 30,000 people turned out for the rally in support of Mr. Yushchenko, who they insist has won the presidential race. His supporters are protesting against suspected vote rigging in the second round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday.

With 99.14 percent of votes counted as of 15:00 Moscow time on Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich had 49.42 percent of the vote, while his rival Mr. Yushchenko had 46.69 percent, according to Ukraine’s Central Election Commission.

According to Mr. Yanukovich, with 99.7 percent of the votes counted, he had 49.7 percent, while his rival had 46.7 percent. 1.61 percent of voters voted against all candidates, and 1.14 percent of ballots were ruled invalid.

For his part, Mr. Yushchenko says he had 52.93 percent (8.953m people), while Mr. Yanukovich had 42.17 percent (7.133m people). Mr. Yushchenko’s office examined data for 18,749 poll stations (56.43 percent).

Mr. Yushchenko said it was impossible to trust the Central Bank. However, Sergey Kivalov, Chairman of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, stressed that the Central Election Committee was interested in “honest and transparent vote counting”.