Rada deputies say the president’s decision to dissolve the assembly violates constitution and “bears all the signs of a step towards a coup d’etat”.
Photo: Alexander Techinsky
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Yushchenko Orders New Election, Parliament Protests
Ukraine’s Supreme Rada passed a resolution late Monday night to bar the government from financing an early parliamentary election after Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree to dissolve the parliament, the RIA Novosti news agency reports. Parliament made clear the chamber would defy the order.
Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree on Monday to dissolve the parliament and ordered a new election for late May, stepping up months of confrontation with the assembly and prime minister.
President Yushchenko, who asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to put off talks slated for Tuesday in Moscow, said it was his duty to dissolve parliament as it had violated the constitution. “My actions were prompted by a crucial need to preserve the state, its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Ukrainian president said in a live television address.
In an immediate reaction to the decision Ukraine’s parliament passed a resolution, barring the government from financing the new poll. The Rada said the president’s decree to dissolve the assembly violates constitution and “bears all the signs of a step towards a coup d’etat”.
The resolution was adopted by 261 votes with the required minimum of 226. Rada deputies also passed an appeal to the PACE, saying there are no legal grounds for a new election.
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