Ukraine parliament votes to dismiss pro-Russian government :: Charter'97 :: News

Ukraine`s parliament voted to dismiss the government of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who is locked in a bitter battle with opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko over the presidency.

The 450-member chamber narrowly passed by 229 votes a motion of no-confidence in the government that had been put forward by the opposition.

The motion also called for the formation of a popular government to replace the Yanukovich administration.

The parliament gave itself the right to sack the government by annulling its approval in March this year of the Yanukovich administration`s programme.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma now must sign the dismissal order for it to take effect, and his supporters insisted that parliament could not reverse the approval of the government programme, making the dismissal unconstitutional.

Yanukovich is battling with Western-leaning rival Yushchenko over Ukraine`s November 21 presidential election. Yanukovich was declared winner, but Yushchenko claims the election was stolen through massive fraud, a charge supported by independent observers.

European and Russian mediators were to hold a second round of talks in Kiev Wednesday aimed at resolving Ukraine`s deepening political crisis a day after the opposition pulled out of negotiations with the government.

Opposition lawmaker Yury Kostenko said after the vote that the new government should be formed which could stay in office until the next parliamentary elections in 2006.

He added that Yushchenko`s camp hoped that the supreme court would annul the results of the contested election later on Wednesday.

"We expect the supreme court today to invalidate the election results. Afterwards we will work on the formation of a popular government which can work until the next parliamentary election in 2006," he told reporters.

"President Kuchma must sign all these decisions of the parliament on the dismissal of the Yanukovich cabinet and the disbandment of the central electoral commission," which was demanded in another parliamentary motion, the lawmaker added.

But pro-government lawmaker Nestor Shufrich denounced the parliamentary vote of no confidence as unconstitutional.

"This decision is unconstitutional and illegal. Under the constitution, the parliament does not have the right to vote a motion of no confidence for one year after approving the government`s political programme," he said.

"And the approval of the programme is not reversible, whatever the deputies have said today," Shufrich added, saying an appeal would be lodged with the supreme court.