Yushchenko Delays Election

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said on Wednesday he was delaying snap parliamentary elections for just under a month and named a new date of June 24 for the ballot.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko declares a change of date for Ukrainian parliamentary elections in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 25, 2007.
"With the aim of conducting the elections in the appropriate manner and for a democratic solution to Ukraine's problems, I am signing a decree setting the early election for June 24," Yushchenko said in a late-night television address.

Yushchenko, locked in a stand-off with his opponents who hold a majority in parliament, had previously issued a decree setting snap elections for May 27.

The president said at the time he was exercising his powers to dissolve parliament and call an early vote because, he alleged, his opponents were shoring up their majority in the chamber by bribing lawmakers to defect to them.

But the initial decree met fierce resistance from the opposition camp, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

They filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court challenging the legality of the original Yushchenko decree and government ministries controlled by Yanukovich refused to provide cash to fund the May 27 vote.

In his television address though, Yushchenko said June 24 was the final date for the election.

"I want to say very firmly that these elections will take place," he said.

Source: Reuters UK