Ukraine's Tymoshenko bloc to launch Rada pullout July 24
20/07/2006 14:29 KIEV, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - Former Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko said Thursday her eponymous bloc would start an official procedure to give up its lawmaking powers on July 24 in protest against a new coalition led by a rival party.
The bloc's parliamentary faction left the 450-seat Supreme Rada earlier in the day calling for new elections in protest against the formation of a new coalition led by the pro-Russia Party of Regions.
"On Monday, we will start drafting a legally substantiated document under a constitutional provision that stipulates the dissolution of parliament if one third of its members leave the legislature," said Tymoshenko, who was expected to return to the prime minister's job in a coalition that collapsed earlier this month.
Tymoshenko said that 125 out of 129 deputies in her faction had filed their resignations but added this was not enough, which is why she said her bloc would ask pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc for support.
A new parliamentary coalition led by Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions officially assumed duties Tuesday and re-submitted his prime ministerial candidacy to President Viktor Yushchenko. The president will now have to choose between recommending Yanukovych's candidature to parliament or dissolving the legislature within 15 days.
Tymoshenko demanded that the president dissolve the Rada.
"The president may dissolve the Rada from July 25, and he must apply this right to prevent the criminal-leftist community from seizing power in the country," she said, adding that until then, her deputies would only work in parliamentary committees and hold open sessions.
When asked what she would do if the president recommended Yanukovych for the post of prime minister, Tymoshenko said: "I will personally consider it as betrayal of national interests."
Yanukovych served as prime minister in 2002-4 under President Leonid Kuchma and contested the 2004 presidential election, which ultimately led to the "orange revolution" that swept Yushchenko to power after accusations of ballot-box fraud.
Our Ukraine, the Socialists and Tymoshenko's bloc formed a West-leaning coalition on June 22 but it collapsed when some Socialists defected and formed a new "anti-crisis" coalition with the Party of Regions and the Communists that now holds 240 seats.
The Party of Regions has been seeking to persuade members of Our Ukraine bloc to join the coalition but so far has enjoyed little success.
