Western-leaning parties in Ukraine have been in talks on forming an "orange" coalition since the elections March 26 failed to produce a clear winner. But they failed to agree on who would receive which posts, which prompted pro-presidential Our Ukraine to pull out and announce it would talk to the Party of Regions, earlier frozen out of the negotiations.
Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych, who ran against Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 presidential race, was bullish about his prospects. "It will take us two or three days to conclude negotiations and consultations on the coalition," he said.
Yanukovych said his party, which secured the most votes in the spring election, was in coalition talks with Our Ukraine and all the other parliamentary factions and individual members of parliament.
"We have already secured the support of the majority today but we are working to make sure that the coalition will be a stable union," he said. "We will not be happy with a parliamentary majority alone."
Under the Ukrainian Constitution, parliament is to forge a coalition within 30 days after its first session, which took place on May 25. If parliamentarians fail to reach an agreement, President Yushchenko is entitled to disband the legislature and call new elections.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose eponymous bloc came in second behind Yanukovych's party in the March vote, hit out Wednesday at a possible union between Our Ukraine and Party of Regions and said her bloc would not be party to the negotiations.
Official results from the March poll saw the Party of Regions take first place with 186 seats in the 450-seat legislature. The Tymoshenko bloc won 129 seats, Our Ukraine 81, the Socialist Party 33 and the Communist Party 21.
