Tymoshenko, Seeking New Alliance, Calls for Talks with President's Party

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ousted Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko proposed Friday that her bloc reunite with the president's political party and run together in parliamentary elections next year.

Ousted PM Yulia Tymoshenko
"We need to restore our unity and win," said Tymoshenko, who was sacked in September by Yushchenko, who accused her of being unable to work together with his team.

The March vote is expected to become a major battle for Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, both of whom claim to be the sole guarantor of the ideals of the Orange Revolution mass demonstrations last year that helped propel Yushchenko to the presidency.

Tymoshenko has said she hopes to regain the prime minister's job after the March balloting, and opinion polls show her party poised to get more votes than Yushchenko's. But she still lacks the support to win an outright majority, and analysts say she is now hunting for a coalition partner.

Under political reforms, which come into force in January, the party that receives the most votes will form a parliamentary majority and nominate the prime minister.

After the September sacking, Tymoshenko said that she and Yushchenko would head to the elections on parallel paths. But she, nevertheless, has repeatedly offered to work with him.

Mykola Martynenko, deputy head of Yushchenko's party, said his party was ready for rapprochement, but countered that "Tymoshenko's parallel path is actually perpendicular to Yushchenko's."

Tymoshenko's offer comes amid moves by Yushchenko to work together with his rival from last year's election, Viktor Yanukovych. If the two were to form an alliance, it would freeze out Tymoshenko and her hopes of returning to the prime minister's job.

Analysts, however, suggest that it would be difficult for Yushchenko to justify a full-blown political alliance with Yanukovych.

Source: AP