KIEV, June 23 – Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to set the next presidential election on January 17, 2010, the only date that President Viktor Yushchenko had earlier defended as “constitutional.”

“The resolution is historical and must clearly correspond to the constitution,” Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said before the vote, which was backed by 399 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature.

The vote eases fears over possible clash between Yushchenko and his political rivals that have planned to schedule the presidential election on a much earlier date. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, for example, has been suggesting scheduling the election for November.

This is the second time that lawmakers set the presidential election date. The Constitutional Court last month rejected the date of October 25, which had been originally backed by Tymoshenko and by opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Yushchenko’s office on Tuesday praised Parliament’s vote.

“The president views today’s Parliamentary vote as the one that has been based on legal, not political, ground,” Maryna Stavniychuk, Yushchenko’s representative in the Constitutional Court, said.

The resolution comes into force after being published in the media. It will effectively set in motion the process of presidential election, which includes appointing local election officials and spending to arrange the vote.

The development comes weeks after secret constitutional talks between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych collapsed, suspending constitutional amendments that had called for electing the next president in Parliament.

The talks focused on electing Yanukovych the next president, while leaving Tymoshenko as the prime minister indefinitely after postponing the general elections for two years, according to people familiar with the situation.

Yanukovych quit the talks a day before the amendments had been scheduled to be announced.

Yanukovych is currently the most popular political figure in Ukraine, while Tymoshenko’s popularity has been declining due to persistent economic problems and the government’s inability to tackle the crisis.

In addition to Tymoshenko and Yanukovych, Yushchenko has earlier pledged to run for the re-election.

Another major candidate is Arseniy Yatseniuk, a pragmatic pro-Western former parliamentary speaker, whose popularity has been growing over the past six months.

Meanwhile, discussions have been making progress among political groups over an early parliamentary election as Tymoshenko has been effectively unable to approve any legislation due the failure to control the majority in Parliament.

All major political figures, including Yushchenko, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, have admitted that running simultaneous presidential and parliamentary election would be a chance to improve governance in Ukraine.

Mykhaylo Chechetov, a senior member of the opposition Regions Party, said Tuesday the option was still on the table, but would require from Yushchenko announcing resignation and early presidential vote.

“If Viktor Andriyovych [Yushchenko] resigns and says: let’s run early elections in 90 days, we could play this blitz-game and conduct both, the presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously,” Chechetov said. (tl/ez)