KIEV, July 6 - Lawmakers on Friday refused to accept the resignation of Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and voted to close the legislature for summer recess, leaving uncertain the fate of a controversial language bill.

The bill, which led to massive protests and which opposition groups insist had been approved with numerous violations, de-facto allows making Russian the second state language in many Ukrainian regions.

The bill triggered a political crisis in Ukraine with Lytvyn submitting his resignation. Lytvyn refused to sign the bill, a move that effectively blocks it from reaching President Viktor Yanukovych, who needs to sign it into law.

Lytvyn, whose health has deteriorated and he has been undergoing intravenous therapy on Wednesday and Thursday, said that he will not sign the bill. He called for a conciliatory meeting between political groups and language experts to find a compromise.

Lytvyn, in an interview with the Rada television aired on Friday, said that Parliament had committed “immense violations” in approving the bill.

He said the bill was not given the proper number of readings, nor were amendments properly considered. “That is why it cannot be sent to the president,” Lytvyn said. “The question lies not in my signature. There are huge violations, which cannot be left as they are.”

Lytvyn has become a key political figure whose actions now may either calm the escalating political crisis or trigger a major deterioration that could potentially split Ukraine.

The introduction of the language legislation is believed to benefit Yanukovych’s Regions Party ahead of October parliamentary elections by energizing its supporters.

But the bill may cause grave problems in the long term by splitting the country with predominantly Ukrainian language speaking western and central regions and mostly Russian speaking people in the eastern and southern regions.

The opposition groups, which organized a spontaneous rally and hunger strike in front of the Ukraine House in downtown Kiev, vowed to continue the protest.

Lytvyn urged for restrain from both sides.

“We have to stop from trying to use this situation in improving somebody’s electoral image,” Lytvyn said. “We have to place taboo signs from the right, from the left and in the center. We have to create a conciliatory commission that would have the right to discuss it.”

But Lytvyn himself on Friday traveled to his election district in the Zhytomyr region to touch base with voters that are known to be heavily pro-Ukrainian language. Some critics said that Lytvyn was forced to take a harsh stance against the controversial bill amid concerns that otherwise he would be rejected by the voters in October. (tl/ez)