President Viktor Yushchenko ordered Ukraine's feuding parties on Wednesday to strike a deal on a post-election government, a move likely to aggravate a political deadlock that has stalled economic reforms.
The president's comments, as the vote count drew to a close, implied stability could be reached only through a political understanding between his allies from the "Orange Revolution" and his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
His statement ran counter to comments in the final stages of the campaign that he favoured a coalition only of pro-Western allies behind the 2004 revolution that swept him to power.
The president had reconciled with former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a key figure in that 2004 upheaval, a few days before Sunday's poll, which was aimed at ending a year of bickering that had hamstrung government policy-making.
"We can achieve political stability from a political understanding between the three key political players - the Regions Party, the Tymoshenko bloc and Our Ukraine," the President told reporters outside his office.
Tymoshenko said she would not countenance any deal involving Yanukovich. Yanukovich, defeated by the president in the revolution, heads the Regions Party. The president is backed by Our Ukraine while the Tymoshenko bloc is led by his fiery former prime minister with whom he might now find himself once more at odds.
With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Regions Party had 34.3 percent and its Communist Party ally 5.4. The Tymoshenko bloc had polled 30.8 and Our Ukraine 14.2 percent.
Both sides have claimed victory and the right to form a government. As votes were being counted in Kiev, Russia threatened to reduce gas supplies to Ukraine in a move analysts said was politically motivated.
The prime minister, regarded as more sympathetic to Moscow, welcomed Yushchenko's move and said it could lead to the formation of a long-touted "broad coalition" between the parties of the two rivals to bridge the gap between Ukraine's nationalist west and Russian-speaking east. "The Regions Party has consistently backed the necessity of consolidating political forces and formation of a broad coalition," he said in a statement.
Tymoshenko was adamant Yanukovich could be no part of any coalition. "We hereby state that cooperation and partnership between the democratic forces and the Regions Party can be developed only if the Regions Party is in opposition," she said in a statement on her Internet site.
Yushchenko had long discounted the notion of a "broad coalition", but never ruled it out completely. In his statement, he said it was up to the three groups to decide who would form the government and who would go into opposition.
"My main message to these political forces is to start political talks in order to form the basis of a majority in the Ukrainian parliament and the government and determine the relations between forces in government and opposition."
Tymoshenko became prime minister after the president's 2004 victory in the aftermath of weeks of "orange" protests, but she was sacked less than eight months later amid infighting.
Yanukovich bounced back and became prime minister thanks to a parliamentary election last year, after signing a deal with the president intended to keep his pro-Western goals intact. Some analysts said the president's latest move was typical of his penchant over two years in power to seek compromises.
"The president has decided to show that he is above the fray, that the formation of a coalition is a matter strictly for parliament with him as supreme arbiter," said Oleksander Lytvynenko, an analyst at the Razumkov think tank. "This is Yushchenko wanting to distance himself from the political fight - and dissociate himself from coalition talks."
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