KIEV, Oct. 13 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched a fierce and spectacular legal battle with President Viktor Yushchenko seeking to cancel the declared early election, which would almost certainly lead to her losing her post.

The move, coupled with the government’s other measures blocking the election, show Tymoshenko has firmly decided on the course despite earlier assurances that her party “is not afraid of the vote.”

The decision is a defeat for those Tymoshenko allies who have insisted she must quit the post now to avoid the blame for a looming financial crisis that may lead to economic slowdown.

It also suggests that a showdown with the president may escalate sharply as Tymoshenko, through loyal Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, controls a major law enforcement force.

“I am confident there will be no early election,” Tymoshenko said appearing in the Shuster Live, a television talk show, late Friday. “The country simply does not need it. Today the election would be absolutely dangerous.”

“Just imagine the election has been scheduled practically on the New Year. How is this going to look? People will be eating their holiday meals and at the same time have to drop their ballots? And somebody will have to count the ballots on the New Year. You understand that no other country does things like this during holidays,” Tymoshenko argued.

Yushchenko issued a decree on Wednesday dismissing Parliament and scheduling the early election on Dec. 7 after political groups had failed to form a new majority within 30 days after the collapse of the previous coalition.

On Friday Tymoshenko launched the attempt to abort the election by appealing to the District Administrative Court of Kiev, a court known to be controlled by her loyalists. The court postponed Yushchenko’s decree.

But Yushchenko responded by appealing the ruling at another court, and late Monday used his constitutional power to reshuffle the District Administrative Court of Kiev by splitting it in two. The action apparently allowed the president to purge the court of Tymoshenko loyalists.

In a similar legal battle last year with then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko prevailed, pushing through his original decision to dissolve Parliament and to hold the early election.

But the recent developments suggest the political crisis in Ukraine has been worsening to a point that the clash has been possible between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko loyalists, analysts said.

In addition to the legal battle, the Tymoshenko government refused to disburse money for the election, and further delay may lead to delay of the election, election committee members said.

The Tymoshenko lawmakers blocked Parliament last week making it impossible to amend the 2008 budget by adding about 440 million hryvnias in spending for the early election.

But on Monday the government also refused to tap its Reserve Fund, which is usually available for emergency financing, a further blow for the early election.

“The Reserve Fund is used by the government exceptionally for financing measures to overcome calamities or similar events,” First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov and a Tymoshenko ally, said. “Of course, some people want the early election to become a calamity for the state, but the government will not violate the law.”

Yushchenko was forced to call an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council to force the government to disburse the money before the end of business day Monday. But Tymoshenko effectively ignored the order.

The disbursal of the money before the end of the week is crucial for the election to take place on December 7, while any further delays would result in further delays of the election, perhaps even forcing Yushchenko to issue another decree dismissing Parliament, analysts said. (tl/ez)