KIEV, Jan. 22 ??“ A local court ruling in the TransCarpathian region on Monday banned Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz from signing the controversial law that dramatically reduces powers of President Viktor Yushchenko.

The ruling on a case, which was filed by a Yushchenko loyalist, has also prohibited state and private newspapers from publishing the law, a requirement for any law to come into effect.

The TransCarpathian region is the stronghold of Viktor Baloha, the chief of staff at the Yushchenko office.

The developments suggest the Yushchenko office has been taking steps to prevent the signing of the law, which may lead to the constitutional crisis and standoff between the president and the government.

Yushchenko vetoed the law on Thursday, but Moroz had later questioned this decision urging the president to sign the law into effect, Otherwise, Moroz warned, he would sign the law.

The law allows the pro-government coalition to nominate and to appoint foreign and defense ministers if the president fails to make the nomination within 15 days after the jobs become vacant.

The law would effectively allow the pro-Russian coalition to immediately replace pro-Western Foreign Minister Boris Tarasiuk, an advocate of Ukraine??™s quick accession to NATO.

Although the coalition had voted to oust Tarasiuk last month, Yushchenko called the dismissal illegal and had issued a decree re-assuring Tarasiuk??™s authority. This decree was questioned by the government.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the first deputy chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said the law would violate the constitution, which allows only the president to nominate foreign and defense ministers.

Yatseniuk asked lawmakers to replace controversial clauses of the law during the next debate of the law in Parliament.

???If the president??™s propositions are not taken into account??¦ there will be reasons to believe that the president??™s appeal to the Constitutional Court would seek canceling the entire law,??? Yatseniuk said.

Lawmakers, following a deal between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, sought to override the president??™s veto when they had voted overwhelmingly last week to approve the law.

But due to a technical mistake in Parliament??™s secretariat, the approved law had a slightly different text compared with the law previously vetoed by the president. This allowed the president to again veto the controversial law. (tl/ez)