Ukraine president hopes for unity coalition
Wednesday, 03 Oct 2007 19:35
Will president Viktor Yushchenko's elections bring unity to Ukraine?
Ukrainian president Viktor Yuschenko has called for unity after Sunday's election failed to end the divided country's political stalemate.
His arch-rival, pro-Russian prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, won the most votes but a coalition of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Mr Yuschenko's party would be enough to exclude him from government.
Mr Yuschenko has said talks on how to form a coalition government, potentially with the fringe Socialist party, should be concluded quickly to maintain Ukraine's unity.
"We cannot get real political stability unless the three main parties agree on how the coalition and the cabinet must be formed and what relations must be between the ruling coalition and the opposition… we cannot let talks last long," the Bloomberg news agency quoted him as saying.
Ukrainian politics has struggled to recover from the rivalry created when the Orange Revolution overturned Mr Yanukovych's victory in a presidential election.
His political comeback as prime minister and subsequent alleged attempts to subvert the constitution led to Mr Yuschenko calling early elections, which after some delay took place on September 30th.