About 4,000 backers of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, whose allies dominate the Supreme Rada, are facing off with some 6,000 supporters of President Viktor Yushchenko, who are demanding the dissolution of the legislature.
The camps are separated by a police cordon and metal fence. No clashes have been reported so far. The court building is also cordoned off by police following pro-presidential protesters blocked the court entrance Wednesday delaying the court session for an hour, and clashes with pro-premier forces.
Judges said Wednesday it would take about 10 days to assess the legitimacy of the presidential order contested by the legislature, which has continued work since the April 2 presidential decree.
Both Yushchenko and Yanukovych, locked in a long-running power struggle, have pledged to obey any court decision and have not ruled out a compromise on an election date.
But the opposition led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yushchenko's fierce ally in the 2004 protests that swept him to power, urged a non-stop rally Wednesday to demand early polls without waiting for a decision by the court, which she accused of political bias and corruption.
The Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg asked the European body Thursday for help in tackling the crisis gripping the ex-Soviet state.
"Ukraine needs the help of the Council of Europe," said Ivan Popesku from Yanukovych's Party of Regions. "I am requesting Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis and PACE President Rene van der Linden to participate in resolving the conflict."
At an urgent debate on the crisis Thursday, PACE urged dialogue and compliance with a Constitutional Court decision, also criticizing Ukraine's power bodies for corruption, restrictions on the opposition.
A senior Russian lawmaker hailed a PACE resolution on Ukraine Thursday.
"Most importantly, the Assembly highlighted the prevalence of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court decision in a resolution," said Konstantin Kosachev, who described during the debate Yushchenko's move to dissolve parliament as unconstitutional.
Back in Kiev, the pro-presidential Our Ukraine leader said Thursday the party had abolished its 2006 election list to prevent the parliamentary faction from being replenished from among candidates after party members, along with colleagues from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, announced their resignation from the factions Wednesday.
Vyacheslav Kyrylenko said the Supreme Rada would not be able to work with two thirds of its members absent irrespective of a court decision.
The two factions said Wednesday a total of 150 of their members had tendered their resignation in a bid to give Yushchenko more grounds to disband the legislature.
Kyrylenko said the decision would be passed to the Central Election Commission, which was to make a decision on it within seven days, and then it would be sent to parliament.
He also said Our Ukraine had expelled the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs led by the economics minister, Anatoliy Kynakh, who had defected to the ruling coalition and joined Yanukovych's Cabinet, prompting the president to disband parliament.
