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Our Ukraine In Coalition Talks With Pro-Russian Party
April 8, 2006 -- Ukraine's prime minister says he is conducting coalition-building consultations with the pro-Russian party that came first in the March 26 parliamentary elections.
Yuriy Yekhanurov said he is holding talks with the Party of Regions on behalf of President Viktor Yushchenko and his Our Ukraine bloc.
The Party of Regions garnered nearly one-third of the votes in the March 26 polls.
It is led by Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister and the chief rival of Yushchenko in the flawed elections that resulted in the Orange Revolution in late 2004.
Yekhanurov said on April 7 that a majority of Our Ukraine members believe Yanukovych's party could join a governing coalition.
Our Ukraine this week drafted an agreement setting the basis for a coalition with Yushchenko's former Orange Revolution partners, the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party. But the Socialist Party gave the proposal an icy response.
(Ukrayinska Pravda, AP)
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
