KIEV, April 4 ??“ Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday has somewhat softened his rhetoric in confrontation with President Viktor Yushchenko suggesting that his party may run at the early election next month.

Yanukovych??™s position has been evolving following meetings with Yushchenko on Tuesday and Wednesday after the president stressed his decree dismissing Parliament was irreversible.

???If the president and the opposition take uncompromising stance concerning the early election and tensions in the country escalate to a climax than the final word must be said by the people,??? Yanukovych told foreign diplomats Wednesday. ???We will be forced to go for the election. We??™re not scared of the election. We??™re convinced that we??™ll win.???

This is the first time that Yanukovych has publicly accepted the idea of the early election since Monday, when Yushchenko had moved to dismiss Parliament and to schedule the early election on May 27.

Parties must meet April 17 deadline for drafting and submitting lists of candidates to the Central Election Committee in order to be able to run at the election.

Yushchenko dismissed Parliament after Yanukovych had been persistently trying to expand the ruling coalition by recruiting individual opposition lawmakers.

The coalition officially numbers 239 lawmakers in 450-seat Parliament, but it had recently increased to 264 as Yanukovych seeks to create the 300-seat majority that would be able to unilaterally change the constitution.

Yushchenko argued the attempts to boost the coalition at the expense of individual lawmakers were illegal and threatened the constitution as they revise the results of the general election in March 2006.

Yanukovych softened his tone after two days of making extremely controversial statements some of which had apparently challenged the authority of the president.

People familiar with the situation said the Regions Party had quietly ordered its branches across the country to get ready for the election, de-facto accepting the vote next month.

The Socialist Party is now apparently the only party within the ruling coalition that has been frantically rejecting the idea of the election. The Socialists fear they may be punished by voters after the party had joined the coalition a year ago breaking its election campaign promises.

Although Yanukovych said his party may run at the election, he also told a Cabinet meeting that such decision would be made after the Constitutional Court clears Yushchenko??™s decree.

Analysts said it may take several months for the court to make a ruling adding that the presidential decree will probably be implemented anyway.

???Until the Constitutional Court makes the ruling, presidential decrees are mandatory for implementation,??? Oleksiy Haran, professor of political science at the School of Political Analysis of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, said. ???Parties that fail to submit the lists may appear to be outside of the election process.??? (nr/ez)