KIEV, Nov. 24 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko may press ahead with a referendum seeking to amend Ukraine??™s constitution to return most of the powers of his that had been shifted to the prime minister this year, an official said.

???When we talk about the referendum, we don??™t mean to change the entire text of the constitution,??? Viktor Baloha, Yushchenko??™s chief of staff, said in a statement Friday. ???It would be enough to ask the people one simple question: ???Are you for the presidential or Parliamentary form of government???™???

The statement was issued in response to comments by Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz, a member of a three-party government coalition, that the referendum amending the constitution would be ???an absurdity.???

The split over the issue suggests that Yushchenko and members of the pro-government coalition have been making little progress in discussions over the amendments to the constitution.

The developments come as Ukraine has been facing a constitutional crisis when the president and the prime minister, who is appointed by the coalition, may essentially claim the same powers.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has been already challenging Yushchenko by insisting that it is the coalition that must define the country??™s foreign and defense policies. Yanukovych, a pro-Russian figure, pledged to postpone Ukraine??™s accession to NATO, an alliance that Russia views as a military threat.

The constitution currently allows the coalition, led by the prime minister, to draft and implement economic and financial policies. But it gives the president the right to nominate foreign and defense ministers, a clear reference allowing the president to define the foreign and defense policies, Yushchenko??™s supporters say.

Yushchenko lost most of his earlier powers, such as ability to appoint and to dismiss Cabinet ministers, after controversial changes to the constitution had come into effect earlier this year.

The changes were approved in December 2004 as a compromise that had apparently averted police attacks on demonstrators during the Orange Revolution, a public uprising that had catapulted Yushchenko to the presidency.

Yushchenko has recently called to create a special commission including all parties to work on drafting new amendments to the constitution in order to balance powers between the president and the prime minister.

Most of the parties, including pro-government parties, formally backed the idea, but Baloha??™s statement and the talk of the referendum suggest that little progress has been made.

Yushchenko??™s Our Ukraine party pledged earlier this month to seek the cancellation of the controversial changes by appealing to the Constitutional Court, a move that would probably provoke an angry response from Yanukovych??™s Regions Party.

Launching the referendum may sharply divide the country, but it could be one of few ways to avert the looming constitutional crisis.

???I am confident that the people know well these issues and they should define who they are ready to hand big powers and big responsibilities to,??? Baloha said. (tl/ez)