KIEV, Nov. 12 – Ukraine’s Parliament on Wednesday voted to oust Arseniy Yatseniuk as its speaker, opening the way for a possible reshuffle of the government and dismissal of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Yatseniuk, who had hitherto enjoyed full support from Yushchenko, is thought to have been recently taking steps further delaying the snap election, which is heavily opposed y Tymoshenko.

The motion to dismiss Yatseniuk was backed by the opposition groups such as the Regions Party and the Communist Party, and by lawmakers that are personally loyal to Viktor Baloha, the powerful chief of staff at the Yushchenko office.

The development comes amid speculations that rift has been emerging between Yushchenko and Baloha. Some people said Yatseniuk was viewed increasingly as a possible replacement for Baloha.

The motion, which was rejected on Tuesday, had been again put on agenda on Wednesday, this time securing support from 233 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament.

The motion was backed by the Regions Party, the Communist Party, the group led by former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and by 10 lawmakers that are personally loyal to Baloha.

“Yatseniuk was removed by 233 votes. Perhaps this is the new majority,” Tymoshenko said Wednesday. “So, go ahead and appoint the new speaker, appoint the new government and work in a normal fashion!”

“What appears to be happening now is that they have gotten 233 votes to destroy somebody else’s work and they keep waiting until the situation becomes even worse, until there is a collapse,” Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko suggested Yushchenko may be secretly seeking to remove Yatseniuk to speed up the snap election, a charge that Yushchenko had later denied.

Yushchenko, asked Wednesday to comment on the position of Baloha loyalists that were once members of his Our Ukraine, said these lawmakers had voted against Our Ukrane’s party line.

“I cannot be a babysitter for 10 or 12 political groups,” Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko said he was actively trying to prevent the no confidence vote, adding that the dismissal of Yatseniuk will now undermine stability in Parliament.

“I spoke with 10-20 people in Parliament that influence the situation to make sure the motion is not put on the agenda,” Yushchenko said. “We have to have a working Parliament. What happened is not a contribution towards stability of the situation.”

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.

Yushchenko in October dismissed Parliament and scheduled the early vote on December 7, later rescheduled to December 14 due to harsh opposition of Tymoshenko.

But late last month Yushchenko suspended his decree to allow Parliament to approve a number of anti-crisis measures needed for obtaining a $16.4 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.

The measure were approved on October 31 and the IMF had already disbursed the first payment of $4.5 billion helping Ukraine fight the run on the local currency and bank deposits.

Yatseniuk traveled to Washington earlier this month to secure the release of the IMF payment. (tl/ez)