KIEV, Nov. 14 – Arseniy Yatseniuk, who was dismissed as parliamentary speaker on Wednesday, plans to create his own political party, a move that may allow him to run independently at upcoming snap election.

The announcement may signal apparent change of course as Yatseniuk has been earlier tapped as one of senior members of President Viktor Yushchenko’s party, Our Ukraine.

“I hope that sometime in the first ten days of December we will be able to introduce the political project,” Yatseniuk said in an interview with Era radio Saturday. “This will not be my own party, but the party of Ukrainians.”

Yatseniuk was dismissed on Wednesday by an alliance of the opposition Regions Party, the biggest group in Parliament, and a number of smaller parties, such the Communist Party and the group led by former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and by the United Center group.

The United Center consists of 10 lawmakers that have earlier quit Our Ukraine and are personally loyal to Viktor Baloha, the powerful chief of staff at the office of Yushchenko.

Yushchenko on Thursday distanced himself from the United Center, while people familiar with the situation have been suggesting that a rift has been growing between Yushchenko and Baloha.

Yatseniuk’s decision to create and to lead the party may be suggesting that he views an independent political career, not associated with Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine. This reverses earlier reports that Yatsniuk would run as the No. 3 in Our Ukraine’s list at the snap election.

Yushchenko dismissed Parliament in October, 30 days after the previous coalition led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had collapsed.

But Yushchenko later suspended his decree indefinitely, allowing Parliament to approve legislation required for receiving $16.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to support the local currency and the banking sector affected by global credit crunch and the falling prices of steel, Ukraine’s main export commodity.

The dismissal of Yatseniuk also adds pressure on political groups to approve the new speaker of Parliament as soon as possible as the job is important in signing the approved legislation before it is submitted to the president for the final signature.

Without the speaker, Parliament is technically unable to approve any legislation as the signature of the first deputy speaker can be legally challenged, analysts said.

Yatseniuk’s future political plans are watched carefully. Yatseniuk, who earlier also served as the foreign minister, the economy minister and as the acting head of the National Bank of Ukraine, is believed to be one of the most promising political figures.

Recent opinion polls indicated that Yatseniuk’s party may get support of more than 3% of voters, which automatically allows the group to enter Parliament at the next election. (tl/ez)