KIEV, Feb. 3 – Parliament, led by the opposition Regions Party, on Wednesday approved a bill that eliminates the need for a quorum at local election commissions, making it more difficult for votes to get cancelled.

The bill is a reaction to alleged plans by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - who is lagging behind opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych in popular support - to use the quorum as a tool for canceling the vote.

Tymoshenko and Yanukovych appoint equal number of representatives to each local election commission, according to current legislation. Should any of the candidates tell their representatives to walk out, this would make a particular commission incapable.

The Regions Party said they recently intercepted a secret memo from the Tymoshenko campaign instructing their representatives not to show up at work on the day of the vote, a move that may de-facto cancel the vote in a given district.

The Tymoshenko campaign denied the allegations.

Tymoshenko, who is expected to lose to Yanukovych by a big margin in the runoff on February 7, would benefit from either cancelling elections in many pro-Yanukovych districts or as a whole vote.

President Viktor Yushchenko needs to sign the bill for it to come into law. He is expected to take yet unspecified action on Thursday.

Tymoshenko demanded the president to veto the bill, while the leader of opposition said the president should sign it.

“If he [Yushchenko] feels that he is responsible for the continued development of democracy in our country, this bill must be vetoed,” Tymoshenko said. “If the veto is not imposed, I will consider the president as a participant in the process of destroying honest elections.”

Yanukovych said: “I am convinced that President Yushchenko, who has repeatedly stated that he is interested in holding honest elections in Ukraine, will sign this bill.”

The bill was approved by 233 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament, including by the Regions Party, the Communist Party and by a half of Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense group.

The bill eliminates the quorum of two thirds at any local election commission, providing that a half of the commission’s members will be enough to hold the vote.

The bill also gives emergency powers to a higher level commission to take decisions for lower level commissions, such as appointing a new member if an old members doesn’t show up for work.

The new member must be nominated by the head of a local council or by a mayor, according to the bill.

The Tymoshenko campaign attacked this particular clause by suggesting that the Regions Party will use its powers to replace Tymoshenko loyalists from many election commissions in eastern regions of Ukraine.

“The claim by Tymoshenko that the bill would allow throwing away Tymoshenko loyalists from the commissions is a systemic lie by the prime minister,” the Regions Party said. “If a person wants to work [at the commission] he will work, and the law will be only a precaution against [plans] to cancel the vote.” (tl/ez)