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"Orange" coalition united on Tymoshenko as PM - co-leader

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A leader of Ukraine's new "orange" coalition, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, said on Wednesday its members would unanimously back Yulia Tymoshenko as premier and himself as parliamentary speaker.
KIEV, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - A leader of Ukraine's new "orange" coalition, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, said on Wednesday its members would unanimously back Yulia Tymoshenko as premier and himself as parliamentary speaker.

Kyrylenko was speaking at a news conference where the pro-presidential bloc Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense that he leads and Tymoshenko's party announced their reunion following the September 30 early parliamentary polls, whose results were only formerly announced on Monday.

"I am positive that all members of our team without exception will vote for these candidates," Kyrylenko said denying reports that the pro-Western camp is not 100% behind the candidates.

The two parties' earlier agreed that Tymoshenko's party would name a prime minister while the president's bloc would propose a speaker.

Analysts have been cautious about Tymoshenko's return as premier, given the "orange" team's past disagreements. The two parties won 228 seats in the 450-member Supreme Rada, only two seats more than required for a majority.

Tymoshenko said on Wednesday President Viktor Yushchenko had pledged to back her for the post of premier. "This is part of the agreement, obviously, yes," the president's flamboyant ally in the 2004 mass protests that propelled him to power told Reuters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Yushchenko said in a statement posted on his Web site that he backed the emergence of the coalition in parliament and would support its choice of premier.

The president dismissed Tymoshenko as premier in the fall of 2005 after eight months on the post amid several scandals, including over a hike in gasoline prices.

Yanukovych's party earlier threatened to abandon its seats in the legislature if a broad coalition failed to appear in parliament. Under Ukrainian law, parliament is unlawful if one third of its members, 150, gave in their mandates. The Party of Regions won 175 seats. Some experts already predict a repeat of early elections in the spring.

Yushchenko dismissed the Supreme Rada in April and called snap elections amid a protracted power struggle with Yanukovych, who he accused of "usurping power" after a group of pro-presidential lawmakers switched to the prime minister's camp.

The "orange" forces' deal, which was initialed on Monday, rules out the Party's of Regions and their allies the Communists' participation in the coalition. But the new "orange" coalition proposed broad powers to the opposition, including control over the government.

Tymoshenko told the news conference the new legislature would consider a draft law on the opposition in the first instance. She said the opposition would be able to propose a deputy prime minister and deputy ministers, heads for parliamentary committees, and supervisory boards in state-owned companies.

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