Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko is ready to sign a decree to dissolve the country’s parliament. This has become possible after major political parties failed to meet the 30-day deadline to create a new coalition.
The pro-presidential Our Ukraine party left the coalition with its former ‘orange’ partner, the Bloc of Yulia Timoshenko, on September 3. The Ukrainian constitution specifies a 30-day deadline for the formation of a new coalition, and Yushchenko is promising to sign the order burying the parliament on schedule. Some politicians argue the dissolution can only come after October 16, which marks a month after the ‘orange alliance’ officially collapsed. Others, however, say this can happen as early as October 3 because this date is exactly 30 days since Our Ukraine announced it was leaving the coalition. So there’s a high probability that a yet another election will be called. If this happens, Ukrainians will be going to the polling stations for the fourth time in less than four years. It’s been a tough time for President Yushchenko, who, amid political turmoil, faces allegations of illegal arms trading to Georgia prior to the conflict in South Ossetia. These allegations came when a document believed to be an agreement to sell weapons to Georgia was made public on the Internet. If evidence is found, a criminal case might be launched against the president. Ukrainian politicos’ spats get ever pettier Former Ukrainian PM seeks rescue in U.S. prison Early elections loom for Ukraine