Ukraine Coalition Likely To Be Pronounced Dead

KIEV, Ukraine -- Parliament is likely to pronounce Ukraine's pro-Western coalition dissolved on Tuesday, opening the way for tortuous talks on piecing together a new, viable governing combination after four years of upheaval.

Speaker of Parliament Arseniy Yatsenyuk
The current coalition, made up of groups led by President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, collapsed this month when the president's allies walked out.

The two stood side-by-side in the 2004 "Orange Revolution" that swept the president to power, but with Tymoshenko twice serving as premier, they have sniped constantly.

Relations with Russia have deteriorated sharply, largely over the president's drive to join NATO and his denunciation of Russian intervention in Georgia.

Chairman Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the coalition was all but dead after no compromise was found in 10 days of talks. He urged politicians to quickly find a combination liable to work.

"It must be understood that we have very little time to restore the old coalition or build a new one," he told top parliamentarians. "Let's not pretend that nothing is happening."

Fifth Channel television said Tymoshenko's parliamentary group met into the evening, with its leaders hoping to patch up a compromise with the president's allies.

Should the "orange" coalition be abandoned, politicians have 30 days more to work out ways to patch it up or produce a new grouping able to secure a majority. Such talks dragged on for weeks after inconclusive elections in 2006 and 2007.

Should they fail, the president may dissolve parliament and call what would be the third such election in as many years. All major parties stand to gain little from a new poll.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko appeared entrenched in their positions as all politicians turn their attention to their chances in a presidential election due by 2010.

The president's Our Ukraine party quit after denouncing a vote to cut presidential powers in which Tymoshenko joined with the more Russia-friendly party of ex-premier Viktor Yanukovich.

Tymoshenko holds the second largest group in the 450-seat chamber after Yanukovich's Regions Party and says it is up to the president to preserve the legacy of the 2004 Revolution.

New combinations could include a formal alliance between Tymoshenko and Yanukovich, initially declared winner of the 2004 presidential election only to lose a rerun when the result was overturned in the courts.

News reports said Volodymyr Lytvyn, a centrist with the smallest faction in parliament, was also involved in talks.

Two polls published in recent days show Tymoshenko's bloc and Yanukovich's Regions Party vying for the lead with about 20 percent each, far ahead of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party.

Source: Washington Post