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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Ousted Ukraine prime minister will be back in post |
| 2006-06-22 |
| Ousted from government last year amid the collapse of Ukraine's Orange Revolution movement, Yulia Tymoshenko will regain her post as prime minister under an accord reached Wednesday with President Viktor Yushchenko's party that preserves the country's pro-West agenda. The agreement between Ukraine's three Orange parties--Tymoshenko's bloc, Yushchenko's Our Ukraine Party and the Socialists--ends nearly three months of tense, contentious talks that ensued after the March 31 parliament election gave no party a clear majority. Yushchenko's rival, Viktor Yanukovych, engineered a strong showing in that election, which marked his comeback in Ukrainian politics. But the pro-Russian political leader failed to win enough votes to form a parliamentary majority. Suffering a humiliating third-place finish in that election, Yushchenko's party was forced to begin talks on forming a government with Tymoshenko, the ally he fired from the prime minister's post last year, and even held consultations with Yanukovych, his nemesis in the rigged presidential election that triggered the Orange Revolution in 2004. Ultimately, Yushchenko chose to reunite with Tymoshenko, the charismatic 45-year-old Ukrainian whose fiery speeches inspired thousands gathered in Kiev's Independence Square to protest Yanukovych's fraudulent presidential win. The Ukrainian Supreme Court reversed Yanukovych's victory, and Yushchenko later won the election rerun. The agreement creates an Orange coalition of 243 lawmakers, a majority in the 450-seat parliament, and keeps on track Yushchenko's pro-West program, which includes integration into Europe and independence from the Kremlin. Yanukovych, whose Party of Regions won 186 parliament seats in the March 31 election, garners most of his support from Ukraine's pro-Russian eastern half and favors a strong relationship with Moscow. more at link |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 The Socialists are in the pro-West bloc? Strange bedfellows. |
| Posted by: Phutle Creremble2411 2006-06-22 14:12 |