KIEV, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, now the country's main opposition force, proposed Tuesday more than doubling the election threshold for parties seeking to take up seats in parliament.

Under the proposal, which the West-leaning bloc registered in the Supreme Rada, parties will have to win 7% of the popular vote - rather than the current 3% - to gain a parliamentary representation. .

"A higher election barrier ... will enable political forces that really exist in society and reflect voters' interests to have a broader representation in parliament," bloc members Oleksandr Turchinov and Andriy Portnov said in an explanatory message attached to the bill.

The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, which has 129 seats in the 450-seat Rada, remains the only political party in parliament that is demanding new elections and refusing to delegate its members to parliamentary committees.

The bloc won about 22% of the vote in the inconclusive March 26 election that led to months of political turmoil.