Tymoshenko Wants To Be Ukrainian PM Again

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Ukraine -- Fiery Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko urged President Viktor Yushchenko to forget past differences and back her for prime minister if "Orange Revolution" forces win next week's election.

Yulia Tymoshenko (pictured) said Yushchenko should unambiguously rule out any broad coalition with his rival, Prime Minister Yanukovich.
In an interview, Tymoshenko, whose highly-charged speeches made her the heroine of street protests that swept Yushchenko to power in 2004, said he should unambiguously rule out any broad coalition with his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

"This is what I want the president to say. I am uneasy about what I hear him saying in interviews," she said during a tour of western Ukraine, a stronghold of the "Orange" vote.

"Now is the time to tell people who are going to vote just what sort of coalition they can expect by voting for this or that political party," said Tymoshenko, wearing her hair in her trademark Ukrainian peasant braids.

Tymoshenko was a natural choice for Yushchenko's first prime minister after the 2004 "Orange" victory that set Ukraine on a new, openly pro-Western path.

But her government was riddled by infighting and she was sacked eight months later amid open antagonism with Yushchenko who blamed her for all the troubles of the post-orange period.

She hoped to head a new "Orange" team after a parliamentary election last year, but was thwarted by Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed loser in the 2004 upheaval, who bounced back and became prime minister instead after long negotiations.

But the power struggle between Yushchenko and Yanukovich has continued and led to next week's parliamentary poll.

Tymoshenko said the president had to clearly back a new "Orange" government and not consider a "broad coalition" with Yanukovich on the premise of bridging Ukraine's longstanding divisions.

The pro-Western Yushchenko said last week he believed "Orange" forces would win the election and he could foresee Tymoshenko as prime minister again. But though he said a coalition with Yanukovich was unlikely because of political and ideological differences, he did not rule it out entirely.

Source: Gulf News