A top ally of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday said her government would seek a vote as soon as possible on whether the cabinet should resign, DPA reported.
The resignation of the current cabinet, made up allies of Tymoshenko and outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko, would open the way for President-elect Viktor Yanukovych to attempt to form a government of his own allies.
"We are insisting on immediate consideration (by parliament) of the government's resignation," said Vice Premier Oleksander Turchinov, the No. 2 official in Tymoshenko's government.
"The most dangerous thing at the moment would be a lack of clarity in (who is running) the ruling government," he said, according to an Interfax news agency report.
Turchinov's comments came in the wake of Saturday's withdrawal by Tymoshenko from a court challenge to Ukraine's recent presidential election, which official results showed she had lost by a 3-percentage-point margin to Yanukovych, a pro-Russia politician closely linked to Ukrainian big business.
"We hope to bring this to a vote by Wednesday," he said.
MPs from Yanukovych's political party, which is the largest faction in the legislature, on Friday introduced motion of no confidence calling for the Tymoshenko government to resign.
Tymoshenko at the time rejected the idea, saying she was confident her court challenge to Yanukovych's victory would be sustained. She withdrew her lawsuit a day later.
Yanukovych's Regions Ukraine political party, in a pair of late January showdown votes, managed to muster a small parliamentary majority with which to sack a national police chief loyal to Tymoshenko.
Former prime minister Yanukovych obtained 48.95 per cent of ballots cast in the February 7 run-off election, with Tymoshenko obtaining 45.47 per cent, according to data from Ukraine's Central Election Commission.
Ukraine's Tymoshenko government seeks resignation vote
