Ukraine PM Seeks Talks On Poll To End Crisis

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday issued a call for fresh talks with his rival, Ukraine's president.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday issued a call for fresh talks with his rival, Ukraine's president, as a precondition on holding a new election to break the ex-Soviet state's long-running political logjam.

Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, swept to power by "Orange Revolution" protests in 2004, has long been at odds with Yanukovich and the majority in parliament backing him. He issued the second of two decrees this week dissolving the chamber and calling a new parliamentary election for late June.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now leader of the opposition and the most ardent proponent of a new parliamentary poll, was to address a rally later in the day.

Yanukovich appeared less categoric than at a rally on Friday at which he said the crisis could be resolved only by holding simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections.

"If we sit down and come to the conclusion that elections are truly necessary, then such a decision will be taken," he told a briefing.

"But the approach must be different. This must be done not on the basis of the constitution, but on the basis of political consultations and an agreement."

He did not rule out twin elections for parliament and president, but this, too, had to result from a political deal.

The president, Yanukovich said, had acted unilaterally and undermined talks launched after his first decree in early April. He demanded an immediate end to "pressure" he said had been exerted on courts, election officials and the security forces.

COURT ACTION

Yanukovich's allies have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the latest decree. The court had been considering the earlier decree, now considered annulled.

On Friday, Yanukovich told supporters in Independence Square, focal point of the 2004 rallies, that the president was impeding a solution and trying to supplant institutions.

"Let him set an example on how to do this and say publicly that he is going forward with early presidential and parliamentary elections. This would be honest," he said.

The rivals differ on the future path to be taken by Ukraine.

Yushchenko sees eventual membership of NATO and the European Union as a key policy plank. Yanukovich, beaten by Yushchenko in the re-run of a rigged 2004 election, is closer to Moscow.

Appointed prime minister last year after his party came first in a parliamentary poll, Yanukovich told NATO officials within weeks that low public support for the alliance in Ukraine ruled out fast-track membership.

The president dissolved parliament on the grounds that Yanukovich, who controls 260 of 450 votes in the chamber, was illegally enticing his allies to join the premier's coalition.

He rejects simultaneous elections, but on Friday repeated a call for talks to solve the crisis. Unlike 2004, when the West backed Yushchenko's allegation of vote-rigging, the European Union and United States have taken no sides.