KIEV, March 12 - Support for the Regions Party, the leading group in the pro-Russian government coalition, declined over the past 11 months, but the party is still the most popular in Ukraine, an opinion poll showed.

The Regions Party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, was backed by 26.3% of respondents in February, down from 32.14% scored at the general election in March 2006, according to FOM-Ukraine, a polling agency.

The group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the largest opposition group in Parliament, received 19.1% from respondents, down from 22.3% in March 2006. President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine got 8.8%, down from 13.95%, according to FOM-Ukraine.

The poll comes amid speculations that Yushchenko may be seeking to dismiss Parliament to call early election to try to replace the pro-Russian government that has been challenges his pro-Western foreign policy.

Yushchenko said there were no formal reasons to dismiss Parliament, but some lawmakers had apparently asked the Constitutional Court to clarify some issues that may eventually produce the reasons, analysts said.

Public support for the Socialist Party, a small pro-government group, dwindled to 2.5%, down from 5.69%, while support for the Communist Party, another small coalition partner, fell to 3.5% from 3.66%, according to the poll.

Other parties collected less than 2% from respondents meaning they would most likely fail to make it to Parliament. There is a 3% threshold that a party must clear in order to make it to the legislature.

The number of respondents that would vote against all parties rose sharply to 11.5% in February, up from 1.77% in March 2006, according to FOM-Ukraine.

Meanwhile, at least 45.5% of respondents believe that the early election would not solve the conflict between Yushchenko and Yanukovych over foreign and domestic policies, the poll showed.

About 18.6% of respondents said the early election was needed, while 36% were not sure what to say, FOM-Ukraine reported.

About 25.4% of respondents said they trust the prime minister, while 18.6% said they trust the opposition groups, 11.1% said they trust the president and 7.1% said they trust the government coalition, according to FOM-Ukraine.

FOM-Ukraine conducted the poll among 2,000 respondents between February 16 and February 26. The margin of error is 2.2%. (--by Olena Banas)