KIEV, April 6 – The opposition group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday stepped up its campaign against a widely anticipated ruling by the Constitutional Court granting legitimacy to the governing coalition.

The ruling, which President Viktor Yanukovych has publicly said he “wants very much,” is expected to allow skipping early parliamentary election that would otherwise have to be called.

At least 11 judges out of 18 at the Constitutional Court are said to be ready to support the ruling, which directly clashes with one of the court’s rulings that had been issued in 2008.

“If such a ruling is issued, this will be the violation of oath by judges of the Constitutional Court,” Serhiy Sobolev, a senior member of the Tymoshenko Bloc, said in an interview with Channel 5. “This is the biggest sin that a judge can have.”

The comment comes hours after Tymoshenko, in a statement, warned that her group will seek to dismiss those judges that vote in favor of the ruling granting legality to the coalition.

Sobolev said the Yanukovych administration has been putting direct pressure on judges, while Tymoshenko alleged last week all hesitating judges had been offered $1 million to uphold the ruling.

Yanukovych denied the allegations, but said he would “pray to God” for the Court to approve the ruling that allows to avoid the early election.

Oleksandr Lavrynovych, the justice minister and Yanukovych’s loyalist, said the campaign organized y the opposition groups has amounted to putting pressure on the judges.

“By her statement today, Tymoshenko has been putting pressure on judges before their verdict,” Lavrynovych said.

He assured the judges that Tymoshenko’s only authority is to “criticize” the government, but she is not in a position to dismiss them.

“The judges can calmly work and approve independent and objective decisions,” Lavrynovych said.

The court is deliberating whether the governing coalition, created on March 11, has been created in line with the constitution.

The constitution demands the coalition to be created by groups, not individual lawmakers, controlling the majority of seats in the 450-seat Parliament.

Yanukovych’s Regions Party, the Communist Party and the Volodymyr Lytvyn Bloc - numbering a total of 219 lawmakers – managed to create the 235-strong coalition only after 16 defectors from two opposition groups had joined them. (tl/ez)