KIEV, Dec. 10 – Petro Poroshenko, President Viktor Yushchenko’s former top security advisor, and Boris Tarasiuk, a former foreign minister, are top candidates for the post of foreign minister, people familiar with coalition talks said Monday.

Both Poroshenko and Tarasiuk are known to vehemently support the Ukrainian pro-Western foreign policy course that may materialize after the creation of the new governing coalition.

The talks over the new government were underway Monday, with the coalition preparing to vote on Tuesday for Yulia Tymoshenko as the new prime minister to replace Viktor Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko is expected to be approved by a slim majority of 227 votes that the coalition commands in the 450-seat Parliament.

“I feel that 227 lawmakers that compose the coalition will vote for the prime minister and the government tomorrow,” Tymoshenko told the Channel 5 television on Monday. “I don’t think there will be more votes, but the 227 votes will be there, I am sure.”

The comment suggests that Tymoshenko’s talks with Yanukovych’s Regions Party and with the centrist group led by former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn have failed.

Tymoshenko for weeks has been courting Lytvyn’s 20 lawmakers to join the pro-Western coalition, but Lytvyn has apparently decided not to join after his demand for the post of the speaker has been rejected.

The development suggests the Tymoshenko government will enjoy support of the slim majority, which poses a threat to the coalition in the long term.

Tymoshenko met Yushchenko on Monday to discuss possible appointments in the new government, according to the presidential press service. Viacheslav Kyrylenko and Yuriy Lutsenko, the leaders of Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, a coalition partner, also joined the meeting.

Yushchenko is authorized to nominate foreign minister and defense minister, according to amendments to constitution in affect since Jan. 1, 2006.

Ukraynska Pravda online newspaper reported Monday that Poroshenko’s appointment as the foreign minister had been approved in principle last week, while other sources have tapped Tarasiuk for the same position.

Poroshenko, Yushchenko’s long-time ally, has been until recently seen as a possible replacement for Volodymyr Stelmakh, the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. But this option has faded away after Stelmakh, a veteran central banker, has rejected the seat in Parliament in favor of keeping his job at the central bank.

Other likely nominations include Anatoliy Hrytsenko as the defense minister, the people said.

Oleksandr Turchynov, the No. 2 man in the Tymoshenko group, will probably be appointed as the first deputy prime minister and perhaps will also control the post of the finance minister.

Three other deputy prime ministers will probably include Yosyp Vinskiy, a Tymoshenko ally, and Yuriy Pavlenko and Ivan Vasiunyk, both Yushchenko’s allies, the people said.

The Tymoshenko group is expected to nominate ministers of energy and fuel, transportation, economy, the people said.

Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense is expected to nominate ministers of internal affairs, justice, healthcare, housing and construction and emergency situations, the people said. (tl/ez)