KIEV, Aug. 2 - Ukrainian politicians officially began campaigning Aug. 2 for the upcoming parliamentary election with the latest poll showing the prime minister’s Regions party holding a slight lead.

The agreement to hold the early vote Sept. 30 was seen as a compromise between President Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western leader whose supporters staged Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, and his lpng-time opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, after the president ordered Parliament dissolved in April, resulting in weeks of street rallies and political skirmishing.