KIEV, June 3 ??“ Parliament on Friday voted to approve a set of bills needed to hold an early election on Sept. 30, narrowly meeting a deadline earlier set by President Viktor Yushchenko.

The development averts an escalation of the confrontation between the pro-Western president and the pro-Russian government coalition and signals the parties may have finally found a compromise.

The vote in Parliament was followed by opposition parties, including Yushchenko??™s Our Ukraine and the group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, signing declarations to give up their seats in Parliament.

This opens the way for Parliament??™s dissolution as had been earlier agreed between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and may mean an end to a long-running political crisis in Ukraine.

The president had threatened on Thursday to call the election earlier -- within 60 days -- if Parliament failed to pass all the required measures by the end of the day.

The measures include amending the laws governing elections and the 2007 budget, allowing financing for the snap poll. The government??™s refusal to finance the poll was the main reason behind a recent escalation of tensions between the president and the coalition.

The Tymoshenko group, which holds the second-biggest number of seats in Parliament, at a meeting on Saturday voted to give up 103 seats. Our Ukraine, which controls 66 seats and is the third-biggest group in Parliament, also voted to give up their seats.


This brings to 169 the number of seats that have been given up in the 450-seat Parliament, rendering the legislature non-operational. The constitution says that Parliament must have at least 301 seats in order to be operational.

The move is a political compromise for the dismissal of Parliament after the pro-government coalition refused to adhere to Yushchenko??™s decrees in April dissolving the legislature.

Still, the early election, now due on Sept. 30, is a victory for Yushchenko.

???I see this as a huge national progress,??? Yushchenko said Saturday while meeting opposition lawmakers who had just given up their seats in Parliament. ???We went through this in a decent way.???

Meanwhile, some friction between Yushchenko and Yanukovych may emerge on Monday when both plan to meet to deal with the prime minister??™s sudden insistence on Sunday that Parliament will have to work through the end of September.

???Of course, Parliament needs to work for a while,??? Yanukovych said while traveling though the Odessa region. ???I really don??™t understand the president??™s attitude towards Parliament??™s work.???

???We will insist that Parliament is capable of working and approving laws,??? Yanukovych said. (tl/ez)