- Title: UKRAINE: Ukraine president and PM agree on early election
- Date: 5th May 2007
- Summary: (BN13) KIEV, UKRAINE (RECENT - APRIL 28, 2007)(REUTERS) WIDE PAN OF RALLY IN SUPPORT OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO PEOPLE HOLDING FLAGS POSTER OF YUSHCHENKO VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING FLAGS
- Embargoed: 20th May 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- City:
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA50RUF7OMY394GZVM05NG7G9N8
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Ukraine's president and prime minister agree to hold an early parliamentary election.
Ukraine's president and prime minister agreed on Friday (May 4), after months of confrontation over a division of powers, to hold an early parliamentary election.
President Viktor Yushchenko praised the decision as a "great victory of good over evil".
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, his antagonist from the 2004 "Orange Revolution" protests that swept the president to power, vowed to triumph at the polls.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, closer to Moscow, in an interview for Russian news channel Vesti 24 gave an indication that the vote might take place in autumn.
"Practically this question is only possible to answer in the hall of parliament where the corresponding laws will be accepted, amendments to laws. Only after this can we name the timeframe for the elections. In my opinion these elections are possible only in the autumn and the timeframe for the elections - October. This is realistic. If this decision will be taken in the hall by deputies then naturally the elections will take place," Yanukovich said.
The president brought months of sniping to a head in April by issuing two decrees dissolving parliament and calling an election. Under the latest decree, issued last week, the poll was scheduled for June 24.
The two leaders have differing views on Ukraine's future.
Yushchenko, who beat his rival in a rerun of a rigged 2004 presidential election, sees NATO and European Union membership and liberal economics as keys to the country's development.
Yanukovich, appointed prime minister last year after his party won a parliamentary election, had agreed to leave the president's policies intact, but soon told NATO leaders that a lack of public support ruled out fast-track alliance membership.
Yushchenko's tough stand on a new election has boosted his personal standing in polls, which had sunk to single figures after two years of administration widely seen as indecisive.
A survey published on Friday put Yanukovich's Regions Party in the lead with 37 percent, while the opposition bloc of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, realigned with Yushchenko after a period of estrangement, was second with 21 percent.
The president's Our Ukraine party scored nine percent and an allied group had four percent, as did the Communist Party.
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