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Party of Regions speaks with Our Ukraine on grand coalition

Other News Materials 27 July 2006 15:39 (UTC +04:00)

(RIA Novosti) - A grand coalition could emerge in Ukraine after a senior member of the lead party in a parliamentary coalition said it had opened talks with a pro-presidential bloc.

Yevheny Kushnarev, the deputy head of the pro-Russia Party of Regions, said talks on forming an alliance that could come to resemble Germany's current government had been started with the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc, reports Trend.

"Today we have started talks on broadening the coalition with Our Ukraine joining," Kushnarev said.

The Ukrainian parliament has still not formed a government as disputes over candidacies for the post of the prime minister continue. The Party of Regions has put forward the candidacy of its leader, Viktor Yanukovych, to President Viktor Yushchenko

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Yushchenko has until August 2 to decide whether to back the candidacy of his former rival or to dissolve the parliament as no government was formed within a constitutional deadline.

Kushnarev said today's talks would focus on reforming the coalition majority, possibly changing its name from the current 'anti-crisis coalition', which also includes Socialists and Communists, and on distributing powers in a future government.

Yushchenko also scheduled for this evening a round table talks with representatives of parliamentary parties to discuss how to overcome the political crisis that has engulfed Ukraine since inconclusive parliamentary elections on March 26.

While representatives of the Party of Regions and Our Ukraine are holding talks, a column of about 20,000 demonstrators is currently marching in downtown Kiev in support of Yanukovych and his party.

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