KIEV, Nov. 8 - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday will begin deliberations on a bill that will eventually decide the date of the next parliamentary election.

The matter is urgent because unless any other decision is taken, the next election will have to be held in March, or 1.5 years earlier than had been earlier expected.

The change came automatically after the Constitutional Court had last month changed Ukraine’s constitution to give President Viktor Yanukovych huge powers.

The change of the constitution, a controversial move criticized by the opposition, has also scheduled the next parliamentary election for March. The Yanukovych majority seeks to postpone the election until October 2012 and had approved the bill last month that is now to be considered by the Constitutional Court.

“I think the Constitutional Court wil take this into account,” Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said Monday. “This is not such a complicated issue that would need some lengthy consideration.”

The early parliamentary election would most likely benefit opposition figures, such as former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who will get a seat in Parliament.