KIEV, May 13 ??“ Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov indicated Friday that he will take a seat in Parliament later this month following the March 26 general election in which his party had a disappointing performance.

The comment is a sign that Yekhanurov, who has originally planned to retain the post, has been losing ground in on-going talks with other parties for the creation of the ruling coalition.

???I just submitted all papers to the Central Election Commission in order to obtain the status of lawmaker,??? Yekhanurov told a press conference.

Yekhanurov-led Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party and the group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have been holding talks since the end of March to create the coalition.

The talks have only recently received momentum after Tymoshenko had apparently agreed to draft a roadmap of main policy decisions by the future government, a key demand set by President Viktor Yushchenko.

Tymoshenko, whose party received most of votes at the election among the likely coalition partners, had been seeking to regain the post of the prime minister. The developments suggest she may well succeed.

???I don??™t rule this out,??? Yushchenko said in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, a Polish weekly, when asked if Tymoshenko may be appointed to the post of the prime minister.

Tymoshenko originally refused to draft the roadmap prompting fears that she may press for re-privatization, one of her main initiatives last year.

The re-privatization drive scared off many potential investors and contributed to major economic slowdown last year. That??™s why Yushchenko urged the coalition partners to draft the roadmap to assure investors on the ownership rights among other issues.

???We have to have a deal on all these issues before the coalition is created,??? Yushchenko said. ???It??™s better to have the agreement then to take a risk that the coalition would quickly collapse.???

Our Ukraine, the Tymoshenko bloc and the Socialist Party will control 243 seats in 450-seat Parliament. Tymoshenko, who claims the post of the prime minister, has suggested that Our Ukraine would probably take the post of the Parliamentary Speaker.

Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz said Saturday that the coalition partners had been making progress in the talks. He said a draft coalition agreement between the three parties would probably be submitted to Yushchenko by the end of Tuesday. (tl/ez)