Ukraine's parliament declared yesterday that a contested presidential run-off vote handing victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich was invalid and failed to reflect the will of voters. Meanwhile, the European Union called for new presidential elections to be held by the end of the year's to end its current electoral crisis, in a new sign of a standoff between the bloc and Moscow. "The best outcome would be to have new elections," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said in The Hague on behalf of the EU's presidency, which is currently held by the Netherlands. The Ukrainian parliament has no legal authority to cancel election results but the vote carries political weight in a country badly split by last Sunday's poll. The chamber, holding an emergency session, failed to pass a motion in support of staging a rerun of the vote. Deputies could return to the motion before the session ends. Liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko, who accuses Yanukovich of stealing the election, demanded a new election on December 12 on Friday after talks with Yanukovich and Western mediators to help end a political crisis in the former Soviet state. Tomorrow the Supreme Court will examine Yushchenko's complaints of widespread poll irregularities. Hundreds of thousands of protesters in central and western Ukraine have taken to the streets to support Yushchenko's calls to rerun the election. In eastern Ukraine, similar numbers have turned out to support Yanukovich as their president. Ukraine's parliament also expressed no confidence in the Central Election Commission, saying it had failed to fulfil its duties under Ukraine's constitution and laws. It called on outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to appoint new members. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Ukrainian demonstrators gather on Kiev's main square to protest alleged fraud in the presidential election Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004. (AP)