KIEV, May 29 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will postpone indefinitely her amendments to the constitution reducing powers of the president as the opposition Regions Party had apparently withdrawn support for the motion.

The development is a setback for Tymoshenko, who has four weeks ago pledged to have the amendments approved - and President Viktor Yushchenko’s powers cut - before the end of the year.

“The constitution must be amended. But 300 votes in Parliament are required for that,” Tymoshenko said in an interview with Ukrayina television late Thursday. “Today neither the government nor opposition has 300 votes.”

Any amendments must first be approved by a simple 226-seat majority in Parliament, and after a green light from the Constitutional Court, the same amendments must be approved by 300 votes in the 450-seat Parliament.

The approval usually takes six months to a year, but Tymoshenko had apparently planned to call an emergency session of Parliament to approve the amendments in May to greatly reduce time needed for the approval.

The comment indicates that Tymoshenko’s earlier agreement with the Regions Party to approve the amendments has failed after the office of Yushchenko has apparently held its own talks with the Regions Party.

“I hoped that we could do it now,” Tymoshenko said. “But, unfortunately, the political intrigues have destroyed that.”

Tymoshenko’s amendments called for establishing a de-facto two-party political system in Ukraine, while the prime minister of the winning party would enjoy most of the powers.

Tymoshenko has been holding secret talks with the Regions Party for months, and planned to go ahead with the constitutional vote even despite a warning from Our Ukraine, Tymoshenko’s coalition partner that backs Yushchenko, that the motion would destroy the coalition.

But the setback came after the Regions Party had earlier this month suddenly refused to back the motion creating a commission in Parliament that would prepare the amendments for the vote.

The support for the commission has been withdrawn shortly after the office of Yushchenko had begun its own talks with the Regions party, people familiar with the situation said.

Shortly afterwards the Tymoshenko government has renewed attacks on interests of Rinat Akhmetov, the wealthiest Ukrainian businessman and the main financial sponsor of the Regions Party.

Tymoshenko has recently cancelled a license allowing U.S. oil company Vanco Energy to search for and produce oil and gas offshore the Black Sea. Akhmetov is one of key investors behind the project, according to Vanco.

Yushchenko, who has been long promoting the idea of energy exploration offshore the Black Sea as a way of reducing dependence on Russian energy imports, defended the project. (tl/ez)