KIEV, April 3 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko told Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday that the decree to dismiss Parliament is ???irreversible??? and urged him to prepare Ukraine for the new election next month.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych had a 4.5-hour meeting at the presidential office seeking the way out of the political crisis that had escalated after the president had dismissed Parliament.

Yanukovych, who had originally demanded the president to cancel the decree to prevent the escalation, failed to make any comments after the meeting with Yushchenko.

The failure by Yanukovych to make critical comments after the meeting may be an indication that the Regions Party might be considering to soften its position in the stand-off.

Yushchenko on Tuesday also met regional governors and top military, security and law enforcement officials to stress the election must be held as scheduled on May 27.

Yushchenko dissolved Parliament on Monday in reaction to on-going efforts by the government to recruit individual opposition lawmakers to increase coalition numbers to a point that it would have nearly an absolute power.

Yanukovych has been persistently seeking to increase the coalition to 300 lawmakers from 250 in the 450-seat Parliament. This would allow it to override vetoes from the president and to unilaterally change the constitution, up to eliminating the post of the president.

Parliament, led by the coalition, refused to accept the decree, which it had called unconstitutional. The lawmakers also voted to approve a number of controversial resolutions seeking to block the early election.

But Yushchenko, at the meeting with Yanukovych and later at the meeting with the regional governors, said the decree ???is in line with the constitution, legitimate, mandatory for execution and is irreversible.???

???The prime minister must look into the future and to focus on preparing the country for the election,??? Vikor Baloha, Yushchenko??™s chief of staff, said after the meeting.

The next several days will be crucial to show whether the prime minister will accept the presidential decision to dismiss Parliament and will get ready for the election, Baloha said.

People familiar with the situation said there were signs of an emerging split within the ruling coalition over whether to accept the early election or to continue the stand-off with the president.

The Socialist Party, led by Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz, has been vehemently refusing to accept the election amid concerns over the party??™s ability to muster enough votes to enter Parliament.

However, the Regions Party, which is expected to perform strongly, has quietly ordered its regional branches to start the preparation for the election, the people said.

???The cooperation between the president and the prime minister in the election process will provide a positive signal inside and outside of Ukraine,??? Baloha said. ???Of course, such approach would only add authority to Yanukovych.??? (tl/ez)