KIEV, Jan. 30 — Ukraine’s opposition parties across the board on Monday rejected a proposal from President Viktor Yanukovych to join a body that charged with drafting - and approving - the country’s next constitution.

The parties, united under the Committee for Opposing Dictatorship, or COD, suggested the body, the Constitutional Assembly, will be heavily manipulated by the presidential administration.

“COD has decided not to participate in the Constitutional Assembly,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the head of the opposition Front for Changes party, said.

The body must be created by Parliament, which by law is supposed to approve any constitutional amendments, “not by the organ that is supposed to guarantee its implementation,” he said.

The developments show the lack of cooperation and mutual understanding between the government and the opposition groups, a path that will most likely lead to new clashes and confrontation in the future.

Yanukovych, when he was the leader of the main opposition party in 2006 and in 2008-2009, had repeatedly refused to join similar body that had been ordered by then President Viktor Yushchenko.

But shortly after winning the presidency in February 2010, Yanukovych has expanded his powers dramatically by canceling constitutional amendments via the Constitutional Court, which he is thought to control.

But recently Yanukovych said he will create a Constitutional Assembly, a 100-member body representing various experts and groups in Ukraine, to draft and approve the new, yet undisclosed, amendments.

“One can only guess what these amendments can contain,” Oleksandr Moroz, the leader of the opposition Socialist Party, said. “It will be simpler to ask the question this way: which norms of the Constitution are not allowing the authorities to make the lives of people better, to protect their liberties and freedoms?”

“In other words, it is not the Constitution that needs to be changed, but those who fail to stick to it,” Moroz said. “In this area, by the way, the president has enough powers.”

Vitaliy Klichko, the leader of the opposition UDAR party, which is not a member of the COD, praised the opposition groups for refusing to join the assembly.

He said the body may be asked to draft and approve controversial amendments that will allow electing the next president in Parliament, a trick that may help Yanukovych easily win the next 5-year presidency in 2015.

“Should the opposition groups join the assembly, the authorities will declare that the new amendments are a joint and coordinated effort between the government and the opposition groups,” Klichko said. (nr/ez)