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New pro-presidential bloc founded in Ukraine

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KIEV, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - Four more political parties came out in support of Ukraine's pro-presidential bloc Thursday with a total of ten parties signing a declaration on unification of democratic forces, the Our Ukraine press service said.

The Our Ukraine bloc comprising six parties received 81 out of a total of 450 parliamentary seats in March 2006 elections, receiving 14% of the vote. According to recent opinion polls, 15-16% of respondents said they would vote for the party in upcoming elections.

"There's a complicated negotiation process between Ukraine's democratic forces. A declaration unifying democratic forces, establishing a united election bloc, and cohesive political party was signed today in front of you. Difficult times are in the past. Today Ukraine's democratic forces are united again, they are strong," Viktor Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko issued three decrees dissolving parliament in the spring after 11 opposition members defected to the ruling coalition, bringing it closer to a 300-member majority able to override presidential vetoes.

Yushchenko's decrees were challenged by the Supreme Rada and eventually his longtime rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, struck a deal to hold early parliamentary elections on September 30 in a bid to end months of political wrangling.

Yushchenko lost much of his power, including the right to name the prime minister and form a government, on January 1, 2006, when constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 to move Ukraine from a presidential-parliamentary to a parliamentary-presidential form of governance became law.

Yanukovych returned as premier after his party's landslide victory in the March 2006 parliamentary polls.

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