The outgoing President of Ukraine today proposed that a bitterly disputed election to choose his successor be re-run to end a political crisis threatening to split the country.

The compromise proposal came as Ukraine's Supreme Court met to hear an opposition appeal to have last week's election annulled because of allegations of massive electoral fraud.

Leonid Kuchma said: "If we really want to preserve peace and consensus and build this just, democratic society, of which we speak so much but have failed to carry out in a legal way, let us have new elections. This is the only more-or-less legal way to proceed."

Viktor Yanukovich, the Prime Minister, was declared the winner of a run-off election on November 21, despite reports from official Western election monitors that the vote was rigged. Mr Yanukovich was backed both by Mr Kuchma and by neighbouring Russia.

Since then, Viktor Yushchenko, his liberal challenger, has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters on to the streets of Kiev to demand a new poll. Mr Yuschenko today stepped up the pressure by urging parliament to pass a no-confidence in Mr Yanukovich.

Mr Kuchma said he had no intention of running in any new poll. "I will not be a candidate to ensure there is no doubt about this."

In an apparently conciliatory move, Mr Yanukovich had earlier said in comments broadcast on television that he would agree to stage a new presidential vote in two regions if mass fraud were proven to have occurred in the poll.

"If there is proof of cheating, that something illegal occurred there and if there is no doubt among experts, I will agree with such a decision," he said in televised comments, referring to two regions in his native eastern Ukraine.

Earlier, Supreme Court judges began hearing an appeal against the election results filed by Mr Yushchenko last week. The opposition is believed to have gathered evidence of some 11,000 separate instances of abuse.

The inauguration of Mr Yanukovich has been suspended until the judges hand down a ruling, which court officials said could take a week.

This afternoon, judge Anatoly Yarema said there would no ruling from the court today, and Mr Yanukovich's team had been given until 10am tomorrow (8am UK time) to examine documents submitted by the Yushchenko camp.

The crisis is proving increasingly divisive. Ukraine's giant industrial base, the eastern Donetsk region that is Mr Yanukovich's stronghold, scheduled a referendum on autonomy for next Sunday.

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