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Ukrainian Parliament Adjourns Without Decision

Kyiv, 7 December -- Rival factions in Ukraine's parliament today failed to agree on passing electoral changes aimed at ensuring a fair vote in the nation's 26 December repeat presidential runoff.

Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said consultations on passing both electoral charges and constitutional reforms would continue tomorrow.

He said outgoing President Leonid Kuchma was ready to attend the session and sign them into law immediately after the vote.

Supporters of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko said the changes were necessary to close loopholes for fraud.

Evidence of vote-rigging prompted the Supreme Court to cancel the November 21 victory of Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and order the rerun.

But communists, socialists, and pro-government factions said they would only pass the electoral changes simultaneously with a constitutional reform that would trim presidential powers.

In a separate development, Kuchma today approved a leave for Yanukovych, who is running for president, and named First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov as temporary successor.

The move means that Kuchma cannot dismiss Yanukovich from the post of prime minister, as demanded by the opposition, until he returns from leave.

(Reuters/AP/AFP)

Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org