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Ukraine's Yushchenko calls on parties to resume coalition talks

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KIEV, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called on political leaders Thursday to resume talks on forming a broad 'national unity' coalition.

The move came a few hours after pro-presidential parliamentary bloc Our Ukraine vowed to form a radical opposition, and called on its ministers to quit the recently-appointed pro-Russian coalition government.

"I do not think that the negotiation process has died out, and I stress the need for a return to constructive dialogue" Yushchenko told journalists.

Our Ukraine's two-month negotiations with the ruling coalition comprising the Party of Regions, the Socialists, and the Communists over forming a coalition ended in a statement by Roman Bezsmertniy, head of Our Ukraine's parliamentary faction, on plans to join the opposition.

Yushchenko said: "I call on the Party of Regions and Our Ukraine, as leading forces in the negotiating process, along with representatives of the Socialist and Communist parties, to return to a constructive dialogue."

The mooted broad coalition would have a total of 321 seats in the 450-member Supreme Rada, consolidating the Party of Regions' 186, Our Ukraine's 81, the Socialists' 33, and the Communists' 21.

The Our Ukraine bloc was part of the 'orange' coalition, which emerged after the inconclusive March parliamentary elections, along with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, which won 129 seats, and the Socialists.

The alliance collapsed when the Socialists defected to join the Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yushchenko's former rival in the 2004 election and current prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, and the Communist Party, to form an 'anti-crisis' coalition.

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