KIEV, Jan. 18 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s campaign on Monday claimed that opposition groups have resorted to systemic fraud to reduce the showing of Tymoshenko ahead of the runoff vote on February 7.

Tymoshenko was behind opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych with a 10.36 percentage point gap after the vote on Sunday, spelling out trouble for her in the runoff due on February 7.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Tymoshenko’s campaign chief, said at least 3 percentage points has been “stolen” from Tymoshenko and awarded to Yanukovych at the first round of voting.

“We only stipulate that our opponents, Viktor Yanukovcyh’s representatives, managed to carry out local falsifications at many polling stations in eastern Ukraine,” Turchynov said singling out regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

The comment signals the Tymoshenko campaign has been increasingly playing out scenario that would seek contesting election results and, perhaps, starting massive street protests.

Hundreds of international election observers on a mission throughout Ukraine to monitor election fraud have reported few signs of manipulation.

Yanukovych scored 35.37% of the vote on Sunday, followed by Tymoshenko’s 25.01%, the Central Election Commission reported Monday after counting 99.72% of ballots cast.

Serhiy Tyhypko, a former governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, was the No. 3 most poplar candidate with 13.05% of the vote, followed by Arseniy Yatseniuk, a former speaker of Parliament, who scored 6.95% of the vote and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko’s 5.45%, according to the CEC.

Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko recorded 3.55%, while Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn recorded 2.35% of the vote, according to the CEC.

The turnout was reported at 66.76%, down from 74% reported at the previous presidential election in 2004, according to the CEC.

Yushchenko, citing a report by the security service, last week said that an undisclosed political group has been preparing for looming street clashes by purchasing space in hotels near Kiev to accommodate thousands of people.

Yushchenko suggested the preparation had been done in favor of one person who has been seeking “absolute power,” a description he has earlier applied towards Tymoshenko.

The Tymoshenko campaign admitted that the massive street protests were possible, but declined to elaborate.

The opposition Regions Party has already disclosed plans of holding massive rallies for weeks starting immediately after the January 17 presidential election.

Boris Kolesnikov, a senior member of the Regions Party, said that his group has enough power to face Tymoshenko in courts, as well as on the streets.

“If the authorities act through way of cheap tricks, then they will fail,” Kolesnikov said. “We have the power and means to make [the presidential election] results legitimate.” (tl/ez)