KIEV, March 30 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko said Saturday he will dismiss Parliament and call early election unless the government immediately stops its practice of recruiting individual opposition lawmakers for expanding the ruling coalition.

Yushchenko is due to meet leaders of political groups on Monday for consultations, a step that is required by law before the president dismisses Parliament. The meeting was due on Friday, but it had been apparently delayed until Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz returns from his trip to China.

???Frankly speaking, I??™m ready to dismiss Parliament. I don??™t have to be convinced,??? Yushchenko said. ???The last several weeks of Parliament??™s work proves that the coalition has been leaving the area of the constitution.???

Yushchenko was concerned about the government??™s plans and on-going efforts to recruit opposition lawmakers in order to increase the coalition from about 250 seats now to at least 300 seats in 450-seat Parliament.

Such coalition would be able to override vetoes from the president and to unilaterally change the constitution, even to eliminate the post of the president.

Recently, there were a lot of speculations over the dismissal, but Yushchenko had so far been using a cautious wording while addressing the issue. This is the first time Yushchenko has explicitly said he was ready to dissolve the legislation.

The comments come as political crisis has been deepening in Ukraine with a bitter standoff between the pro-Russian ruling coalition and pro-Western opposition groups over the country??™s foreign and domestic policies.

The opposition and the coalition both have been increasingly appealing to supporters across Ukraine with thousands arriving to Kiev over the past several days to show support for their groups.

About 80,000 of protesters joined the anti-government rally in downtown Kiev to demand the dismissal of Parliament, while about 30,000 joined the pro-government rally at a nearby square.

On Saturday Yushchenko also issued other demands that must be met by the government in order to avoid the dismissal of Parliament. The demands include approval of a law that would expel from the legislature those lawmakers that vote against party line, to stop pressure on the Constitutional Court and to draft new amendments to the constitution that would prevent a similar political crisis in the future.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych immediately rejected most of the demands from Yushchenko. Other coalition members have been saying that the coalition may suspend its expansion until the Constitutional Court decides on the issue.

???We will never accept the language of the ultimatum that are outside of the law and constitution,??? Yanukovych said.

Meanwhile, the meeting on Monday will be crucial to suggest whether it was possible to find the way out of the crisis.

Yushchenko said: ???I will be taking the decision based on the situation. If the meeting proves to be fruitless this will be an indication that political groups refuse an effective dialog.??? (tl/ez)