KIEV, Dec. 8 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the opposition Regions Party postponed talks over a new coalition following President Viktor Yushchenko’s warning that he may press for an early Parliamentary election.

Tymoshenko and the Regions last week were close to creating the coalition and people close to the talks said one of Tymoshenko’s key conditions was to make sure there is no election until after 2012.

The delay was needed to help Tymoshenko weather expected popular discontent that could otherwise punish her at the vote for joining forces with the Regions, the party she had repeatedly labeled as “bandits.”

Yushchenko, who postponed his Parliament dismissal decree last month to let lawmakers approve a number of bills to tackle the financial crisis, warned Monday the option was still on the table.

“The president is ready to get back to the final decision over the issue [of early election] if it becomes clear that incapable Parliament blocks a national anti-crisis policy,” Iryna Vannikova, Yushchenko’s spokeswoman, said.

Yushchenko said recently he was aware of the talks between Tymoshenko and Vitor Yanukovych, the leader of the Regions Party, aimed at creating a coalition that would reduce presidential powers.

Vannikova stressed that Yushchenko believes such coalition would be a challenge for the country.

“The president believes that shadowy collusion between business groups is taking place in Parliament and that has nothing to do with the protection of national interests of Ukraine and is aimed at destroying democratic changes,” Vannikova said.

Andriy Kozhemiakin, a senior member of the Tymoshenko group in Parliament, said Monday denied numerous reports coming from different sources that the group has made a dramatic progress in the talks with Regions Party.

“The Tymoshenko Bloc does not prepare and has never signed any political agreement or any coalition agreement with any political party,” Kozhemiakin said.

“Our proposal is the same for all political groups,” Kozhemiakin said. “The main goal of the Tymoshenko Bloc is to unite efforts of all parties in Parliament within the grand coalition to fight effects of the world’s economic crisis and to minimize its effect on Ukraine.”

The Regions Party, reacting to Yushchenko’s dismissal warning Monday, urged the president to take the decision if no political deal is reached within the next several days.

“What’s on the surface is that an incapable Parliament would benefit the president and the prime minister,” Oleksandr Yefremov, a senior member of Regions, said. “Unless a political agreement is reached within the next couple days, the president must use his constitutional power [to dismiss Parliament], not to go back and forth.” (tl/ez)