Tymoshenko pressured to concede

Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko faced pressure Monday to concede defeat in the presidential election as she maintained an uncharacteristic silence on the result.

International observers including the OSCE said that it was time for the country's leaders to "listen to the verdict'' after a clean election, in an implicit call on Tymoshenko to concede to her rival Viktor Yanukovich.

Foes and supporters of the prime minister have both keenly awaited her first comments on the results. Last week, she had vowed to call mass protests if she detected any fraud by her rival.

Aides twice announced and then cancelled press conferences at government headquarters, saying later that she would now only speak to reporters on Tuesday.

International observers have given the elections a relatively clean bill of health. Results with almost all the votes counted give Yanukovich a lead of just under three percent.

"It is now time for the country's political leaders to listen to the people's verdict and make sure that the transition of power is peaceful and constructive,'' said Joao Soares, special coordinator of the OSCE short-term observers.

"Yesterday's vote was an impressive display of democratic elections. For everyone in Ukraine, this election was a victory,'' he added.

The observers, in a joint statement praised the "professional, transparent and honest voting and counting'' in Sunday's polls.

As well as the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the assessment was made by observers from the European Parliament, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

After the publication of Sunday's exit polls, Tymoshenko had said the election was not over until the "last count'' is made and has not made any further comment or public appearance since.

Yanukovich declared victory on Sunday and said it was time for the prime minister to step down as he wanted someone he found more suitable.

By contrast to the silence of Tymoshenko's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) party, officials from the Regions Party of Yanukovich gave regular briefings.

"Tymoshenko must remember that she is a democrat and not ruin the good reputation of Ukraine,'' said Regions Party MP Anna German, one of Yanukovich's top lieutenants.

Regions Party official Boris Kolesnikov added: "It's time she packed her bags. We are we have approached the president (Viktor Yushchenko) and the security service so that Tymoshenko recognises the result.''