KIEV, June 22 – Consensus was growing Monday among Ukraine’s key political figures for holding an early parliamentary election jointly with the next presidential vote, with major political figures saying the move could potentially make the country’s governance more effective.

Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the opposition Regions Party, said Monday the joint elections would help the country “to get out of the [economic] crisis the fastest way.”

“As soon as possible we have to go through the purgatory, in other words the elections, nation-wide,” Yanukovych said in an interview with ICTV late Monday. “If we go through simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections this would be the right thing to do. This would correspond to the mood of the people.”

The comment highlights a turnaround in Yanukovych’s position over the past 30 days. He said last month Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko should be given time to fight the economic crisis and keep running the government through the next presidential election.

The turnaround comes two weeks after the collapse of secret constitutional talks between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych over controversial amendments that would have drastically reshaped the country’s political system.

Yanukovych’s support for the early parliamentary elections comes as President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party has been already taking steps that could trigger the early parliamentary elections.

Yushchenko earlier supported the idea of simultaneous elections, but called for canceling lawmaker immunity status and making other changes to the election law.

Tymoshenko, who represents the only other major political group, recently submitted proposals to the Regions Party in which she had agreed to hold simultaneous elections on November 25.

Mykola Azarov, who chief of Yanukovych’s campaign team who is familiar with the proposal, said Tymoshenko has been seeking to hold the election as soon as possible because the economic crisis has been badly hurting her public rating.

Holding the simultaneous elections may improve the governance in Ukraine as there was a chance for the president and the prime minister to represent the same party. This would help to eliminate the rivalry between the presidential office and the Cabinet, which had frequently caused political troubles in Ukraine over the past four years.

With all three key political figures supporting the idea of early parliamentary elections, the only disagreement now comes over the exact date when to hold the elections.

Both, Yushchenko and Yanukovych, back January 17, 2010 as the date for the next presidential election, while Tymoshenko has been seeking to schedule the vote on November 25.

The date of the next presidential election must be approved by Parliament, it is Yushchenko who holds the key from holding the presidential election anytime sooner than January 17.

Although the Constitutional Court may reject any earlier date of the election, Yushchenko can announce resignation that would automatically schedule the election on any earlier date, analysts said.

As a concession for the early presidential vote, Yushchenko would probably insist on stripping lawmakers of immunity – something that most of lawmakers have been refusing to do for years – and changing the election law that would increase independence of lawmaker from their party leaders.

Our Ukraine will hold a meeting June 27 to officially declare its opposition to Tymoshenko’s government, and will ask Our Ukraine lawmakers to quit the coalition that may automatically trigger the early parliamentary election. (tl/ez)