KIEV, Feb. 4 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday signed a controversial presidential election bill, arguing the action was needed to prevent a scenario in which the Sunday vote could get cancelled.

“Today the situation is such that the presidential election is in jeopardy,” Iryna Vannikova, Yushchenko’s spokeswoman, said. “Any scenario for canceling the vote must be prevented.”

The comment shows that Yushchenko has shared an argument by the Regions Party, which has suggested the bill was a response to the alleged plans by Tymoshenko to seek cancellation of the vote.

Tymoshenko, who lags behind opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych by 10 percentage points ahead of the February 7 runoff vote, would benefit from cancelling the vote as she would stay as the prime minister.

The bill eliminates the requirement for a quorum at a local election commission, which is supposed to count ballots that will be cast by voters on Sunday.

Tymoshenko and Yanukovych appoint equal number of representatives to each local election commission, according to current legislation. But should any of the candidates instruct their representatives to walk out, this would make the local commission incapable.

The Regions Party said it recently intercepted a secret memo from the Tymoshenko campaign instructing their representatives not to show up at work on the day of the vote, a move that may de-facto cancel the vote in a given district.

The Tymoshenko campaign denied the allegations.

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said Thursday she was following the development in Ukraine.

"I am following closely developments in Ukraine in the run up to the second round of presidential elections on Sunday,” Ashton said in a statement. “I welcome the commitment to the democratic process demonstrated by the Ukrainian people in the first round of elections in January.”

“I call on all candidates to ensure that the will of the people can once more be expressed at the polls this Sunday,” Ashton said.

Tymoshenko argued the bill would open the new possibility of fraud, and indicated that she will ask her supporters to come to Kiev for street protests.

“If this law comes into effect and if we fail to technically secure an honest election, we will call on the people to rise,” Tymoshenko said shortly before Yushchenko had signed the bill.

“If he [Yanukovych] wants falsifications, we are able to give him such a rebuff that he had never seen, including in 2004,” Tymoshenko said.

Yushchenko said earlier this month that thousands of people have been settling in hotels around Kiev, along with means of transportation, such as buses.

He argued that the development was an indication that the presidential candidate who was going to lose has been preparing to contest the vote and trigger the street protests.

Meanwhile, Yanukovych, who lost presidential election to Yushchenko in December 2004 after the Orange Revolution, the people’s uprising against the election fraud that had been committed by Yanukovych team.

A Supreme Court ruling in December 2004 backed Yushchenko’s complain about the fraud, and had set up a re-run of the runoff vote that had been eventually won by Yushchenko.

Meanwhile, on Monday Yanukovych was skeptical that Tymoshenko would be able to summon up any significant amount of people for the protests.

“This is a sign of her weakness and understanding that she was going to lose,” Yanukovych said. “Not only their days are numbered, but their hours are too.” (tl/ez)