By Richard Balmforth
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine readied for a weekend presidential election with tension rising Thursday as fiery Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko renewed attacks on the once-discredited Viktor Yanukovich, now on the comeback trail.
Most analysts said the two -- adversaries since the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in which she was eulogised as a national saviour and he was disgraced by a rigged election -- were still the frontrunners in Sunday's poll.
No candidate is expected to poll the 50 percent vote required for outright victory.
Yanukovich, 59, a former prime minister backed by wealthy industrialists, is expected to coast to a comfortable lead in Sunday's vote, with Tymoshenko in second place.
But analysts say he will require much more than a 10 percent lead to be sure he can stop Tymoshenko -- an energetic, PR-savvy performer -- overtaking him in a run-off set for February 7 and denying him the presidency for the second time.
The former Soviet republic of 46 millions must decide on a leadership that will help it find its place in mainstream Europe and, at the same time, navigate a prudent course in relations with its old master Russia.
Moscow ties have nose-dived under pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, who was propelled to power by the Orange Revolution but is now expected to burn out in the first round after five years of ineffectual leadership.
Any new future leadership will also have to revive a shattered economy and take control of collapsing state finances that have been propped up by a $16.4 billion (10 billion pounds) International Monetary Fund bail-out program.
The West might now prefer to forget its old animosity towards Yanukovich, tagged a pro-Moscow stooge in 2004, if he comes to power and brings stable leadership after the political disarray of the Yushchenko years.
The European Union, with which Ukraine is seeking closer integration, has been particularly frustrated at the political turmoil in Kiev.
"The EU should neither cross out the possibility of coming to terms with Viktor Yanukovich, nor should it rest too much hope in Yulia Tymoshenko," Pawel Zerka, an analyst at DemosEuropa think-tank in Warsaw, wrote in a commentary.
He saw Yanukovich as a pragmatist who may take a slower approach to rapprochement with the EU, while Tymoshenko was more Euro-enthusiastic but also more unpredictable.
TYMOSHENKO CHALLENGE
Though Yanukovich can remain confident of strong support in the industrial east and in the south, there may be question marks over the real level of support enjoyed by Tymoshenko.
The stylish, 49-year-old Tymoshenko, who has run a glitzy campaign of pop jingles and populist slogans, has been target of non-stop attacks by her former patron, Yushchenko.
He says she is out to disrupt the election and seeks absolute power. Some of this may have hurt her campaign.
A Russian poll conducted in Ukrainian towns showed she might even be trailing in third place slightly behind former central bank chief Serhiy Tyhypko.
Some analysts saw real prospects of a challenge by Tymoshenko to any victory by Yanukovich -- either appealing to the courts or even going as far as trying to bring people out on to the streets as she did in 2004.
Referring to Tymoshenko's charges that the Yanukovich camp had laid the ground for massive vote-rigging in the east, brokerage Rennaissance Capital said in a note on Thursday:
"We believe Tymoshenko will continue to push this topic in the media in order to encourage people to take to the streets in protest."
Much will hinge on the verdict given on the election by the army of international observers who have poured into Ukraine and prepared Thursday to fan out across the snow-bound country.
A spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said observers would hand down their collective view Monday.
OPPORTUNISTIC POLITICS
Tymoshenko kept up her barrage of attacks on Yanukovich on Thursday, renewing charges that he was a coward for refusing to engage her in a live television debate and saying he was not up to the task of running the country.
He and she have similar policies, however. Both have pledged to rebuild the damaged ties with Moscow while at the same time moving closer to mainstream Europe.
Given the opportunistic nature of Ukrainian politics, analysts do not rule out a political co-habitation between them after the election.
But Yanukovich is likely to dissolve parliament and call new parliamentary elections to form a government loyal to him.
Equally, some observers say Yushchenko's sharp attacks on Tymoshenko may pave the way for a political accommodation between him and Yanukovich after the election.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth and Ralph Boulton)
