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Party of Regions blocks Ukraine parliament, demands secret vote

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Members of the opposition Party of Regions faction again blocked the presidium's rostrum in Ukraine's parliament Thursday, demanding a secret vote on candidates for prime minister and parliamentary speaker.
KIEV, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - Members of the opposition Party of Regions faction again blocked the presidium's rostrum in Ukraine's parliament Thursday, demanding a secret vote on candidates for prime minister and parliamentary speaker.

The pro-Russia party, which won the largest share of votes in March 26 parliamentary elections but was frozen out of a coalition deal, is protesting against "package voting" on the candidacies that "orange" coalition parties had scheduled for Thursday. "Package voting" has been chosen to avoid any maneuvers by party members over the agreed candidacies.

On June 22, the "orange" trio of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc, and the Socialists had struck a coalition deal following nearly three months of political wrangling.

The sides agreed to appoint ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a prominent figure in the "orange revolution" whose recent career has courted controversy, to the post of prime minister, and Petro Poroshenko, a businessman and former secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, as parliamentary speaker.

As well as a secret vote, the Party of Regions is demanding equal distribution of parliamentary committees among the parties that made it into parliament.

The party is protesting in parliament for a second day. Leader Viktor Yanukovych, beaten by President Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 presidential race, said earlier: "We are prepared to block the parliament's work for 30 days if it is necessary."

The Supreme Rada, or parliament, would have to be dissolved in 30 days if its members fail to hold a session.

Members of Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party said the opposition's demands should be partially met in order to allow the Rada to get down to work.

Mykola Katerynchuk of Our Ukraine said the coalition trio was ready for a dialogue with the opposition.

"We are prepared for a constructive dialogue but only if the opposition creates normal conditions for it," he said.

Our Ukraine's Roman Bezsmertniy said parliament would be unable to work in a normal regime until the opposition stopped blocking the presiding and parliamentary rostrums.

"The Supreme Rada will only continue work when deputies of the Party of Regions get out from under the rostrum," he said.

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