Ukraine Consensus Needed On 2010 Poll

Ukraine's parliamentary speaker said the country's bickering leaders must agree quickly on elections in January next year to avert any risk of pitching the country into renewed uncertainty or disorder.

Constitutional experts agree the poll must take place by late January 2010 -- 5 years after pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko was elected after "Orange Revolution" protests. Any delay in setting a date could prompt a move for early polls and fresh uncertainty, or trigger an attempt to impeach Yushchenko.

The "Orange Revolution" rallies brought most activity in Ukraine to a halt for weeks. Political turmoil, particularly discord within the "Orange" camp, has since gripped the country almost without respite, dampening foreign investor interest.

Yushchenko and the ex-Soviet state's other two prominent politicians -- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his estranged "Orange" ally, and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, have in any case long been gauging their chances in the 2010 contest.

Yanukovich said last week only early parliamentary and presidential polls could end financial crisis, with steel and chemical exports sinking and industrial output down more than 20 percent year-on-year. But Ukraine has had two parliamentary elections since the Revolution and was nearly plunged into a new campaign late last year when Yushchenko dissolved parliament.

Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, interviewed in his office late on Friday, said agreement was needed among all leaders in parliament to preclude any new political uncertainty.

"I believe January 17 is the (election) date set down in the constitution," Lytvyn, who occupies the third most powerful position in the political hierarchy, told Reuters.

"Politicians must reach an understanding on this and make a decision. This must be adopted as early as possible but on condition that it be signed by the leaders of all factions. Otherwise, there will always be some sort of temptation to speed up the election or threaten the president with impeachment."

PROSPECTS FOR PRESIDENT

Lytvyn predicted Ukraine's three leading politicians would run -- though none has officially declared a candidacy.

Yanukovich, the main loser in the 2004 struggle, leads opinion polls followed closely by Tymoshenko. The president, at odds with Tymoshenko for more than a year, lags far behind.

Lytvyn served as chief of staff under former President Leonid Kuchma, distrusted in Western capitals at the end of his mandate, and retains considerable influence in politics.

He became speaker a second time last year after his group in parliament, the smallest, reinforced the very shaky governing coalition.

He was also speaker during the 2004 rallies against poll fraud. A skilled mediator, he played a key role in winning approval for a reduction in presidential powers so that the re-run of the rigged presidential election demanded by the protesters could proceed.

Lytvyn said the constitution, under debate as polticians again consider overhauling state institutions, had no real provision for removing the president from office early despite periodic calls for impeachment by the opposition.

"From a legal standpoint, impeachment is impossible if one sticks to the constitution and legislation," he said. "And it really is unnecessary from the standpoint of politics and the country. It would work against Ukraine and its people."

Lytvyn denounced Yanukovich's early election call last week as a "propaganda manoeuvre" and said parliament would sit without interruption.

The president, he said, was barred from dissolving the chamber in the last six months of his term and Tymoshenko could face no new threats to her government until autumn after easily winning a confidence vote in the past week.