KIEV, Nov. 11 – Arseniy Yatseniuk, the speaker of Parliament and an ally of President Viktor Yushchenko, on Tuesday survived a surprise vote of no confidence initiated by opposition groups.

The motion was put on agenda on Tuesday after the opposition parties and a small group of lawmakers loyal to Viktor Baloha, the chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, backed the plan.

The development suggests that a rift has been emerging in relations between Yushchenko and Baloha, amid mounting speculation that the powerful chief of staff may soon be dismissed.

Baloha, whose United Center group split from Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, had been so far vehemently supporting Yushchenko, but the latest vote appears to indicate a worsening split.

The United Center, after helping the opposition groups put the motion on agenda, eventually refused to participate in the vote, which means Yatseniuk will continue as the speaker.

The motion comes as a surprise and comes as Yushchenko is out of the country for important economic talks with President Lech Kazchynski of Poland.

“This has been made in line with classic palace coups,” Yatseniuk said after the vote. “Whenever the leader of the country goes abroad the coup must necessarily happen. This is a perfect example of the today’s situation.”

Yatseniuk is seen by many as Yushchenko’s possible successor.

People familiar with the situation said that Yushchenko invited Yatseniuk to one of the top five positions within his Our Ukraine ahead of the upcoming snap elections.

At the same time, senior members of Our Ukraine have refused to include Baloha and his allies to the party’s ticket, apparently angering the powerful chief of staff.

Opinion polls suggest that Baloha’s United Center is unlikely to win any seats in Parliament on its own, now making the upcoming election for him less attractive.

Baloha is seen as Yushchenko’s crisis manager who had successfully engineered the dismissal of Parliament and the snap election in 2007 and was seen as the key propeller behind the snap election in 2008.

The reshuffle of Parliament’s leadership perhaps opens a new opportunities for the United Center, jointly with the opposition groups, such as the Regions Party, the Communist Party and the group led by former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. (tl/ez)