KIEV, Sept. 15 – Amid signs her attempts to form any coalition in Parliament has been producing little result, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told her lawmakers Monday to start preparing for early elections, a newspaper reported.

This comes after the opposition Regions Party, viewed as Tymoshenko’s new coalition partner, refused to support a comprehensive overhaul of the political system centered around a dramatic reduction of President Viktor Yushchenko’s powers.

“The Regions Party appeared to be not ready to vote for the prepared set of bills switching [the country’s political system] to a parliamentary republic,” a person from Tymoshenko camp told Ukrayinska Pravda.

The development comes 10 days after Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Regions Party, had reportedly reached a power sharing deal to create the so-called “stabilization” coalition.

The deal apparently anticipated immediately appointing Yanukovych as the speaker of Parliament with Tymoshenko being the prime minister and with an understanding that Yanukovych would get elected president in 2010.

The apparent collapse of the deal may be suggestive of a widening split within the Regions Party between a Russia-leaning wing led by Yanukovych and the liberal wing associated with Rinat Akhmetov, the wealthiest Ukrainian, who is thought to have been supporting Yushchenko.

“It seems that Yanukovych has not been able to break Akhmetov,” the person said.

Tymoshenko must form a coalition uniting the majority of at least 226 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament within the next 30 days to avoid the dismissal of legislature by the president.

The clock has been ticking for the dismissal after pro-Western coalition between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko collapsed on Sept. 2 following a surprise alliance between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych approving a number of anti-Yushchenko bills.

Yushchenko pulled his Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense group from the coalition hours after the controversial bills had been approved, accusing Tymoshenko of undermining the coalition.

Tymoshenko, who quickly blamed Yushchenko for the collapse of the coalition, had been seeking to form the alliance with the Regions Party among other options.

Analysts said that forming the coalition with the Regions Party would probably hurt Tymoshenko’s public support as she had been campaigning on ruling out a coalition with the Regions.

Tymoshenkos’s other options apparently included creating a coalition involving Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense and the centrist group led by former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

But even Tymoshenko did not believe such coalition be created, and at a meeting Monday urged her lawmakers to prepare for the early election.

“She said there was 10% chance that the coalition will be created,” the person said. “The rest 90%, as has come out based on the context, is the early election.”

“Yulia Volodymyrivna urged the lawmakers to go to their constituencies and to unfold the campaign,” the person said. “Our local campaign offices have been already up and running.” (tl/ez)