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KIEV, April 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko late Wednesday signed a decree postponing snap parliamentary elections until June 24.

"I am signing a decree setting June 24 as the date for early elections," Yushchenko said in a televised address to the people.

Early elections came into the spotlight after President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree disbanding parliament and setting snap elections for May 27, following the defection of 11 opposition members to the ruling coalition in parliament, the Supreme Rada.

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has vehemently opposed fresh elections and refused to obey the presidential decree until the Constitutional Court announces its ruling, expected by April 27.

But the president's representative in the court, Volodymyr Shapoval, said it was hard to predict the date for the court's ruling.

While the Constitutional Court of Ukraine continued to review the presidential decree, members of the ruling coalition, the opposition, the Cabinet and the president's secretariat, who had gathered for political consultations in the president's office, failed to reach a compromise.