KIEV, Aug. 20 - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appear headed for a showdown with President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday, when they will seek to change legislation governing the next presidential election.

Yushchenko vetoed the legislation earlier this month, but Tymoshenko and Yanukovych have pledged to join forces to override the veto at an emergency session of Parliament on Friday.

The legislation reduces the time of campaigning to 90 days from 120 days, makes it extremely difficult to vote for Ukrainians living overseas and allows adding new people to voter lists on the day of the vote.

The legislation also allows biggest parties – as opposed to a wide political spectrum, non-government groups and public organizations - to form territorial election commissions that are in charge of vote counting.

This is expected to allow allies of Tymoshenko and Yanukovych to effectively control vote counting, a state of affairs that Yushchenko say may cause major fraud at the election.

Oleksandr Lavrynovych, an ally of Yanukovych, said lawmakers will “for sure” override the veto before September 19, when the presidential campaign was due to start.

Yushchenko will probably appeal the controversial legislation at the Constitutional Court if his veto is overridden.

“I believe if lawmakers override the veto, the president will appeal to the Constitutional Court,” Maryna Stavniychuk, a deputy chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said.

It usually takes at least a month for the Constitutional Court to approve a decision, but Stavniychuk said the president will ask the court to consider the issue quickly.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko said Thursday the time of campaigning must be reduced even further – perhaps to 30 days – in order to save money that the government spends in the process.

“90 days is only the first step. Then it must be 60 days, or even 30 days,” Tymoshenko said at a press conference in Lviv. “This will allow saving budget money.”

Tymoshenko and Yanukovych earlier this year tried – but failed – to create an alliance that would amend the constitution and postpone elections in Ukraine for two years.

The amendments also called for allowing lawmakers elect the next president – widely expected to be Yanukovych - in Parliament, while allowing Tymoshenko to continue as the prime minister for years ahead.

The talks failed after details of the controversial amendments had been leaked to media, triggering major criticism and forcing Yanukovyh to withdraw from the talks.

Tymoshenko, whose popularity had dwindled as the economy contracted, said that the upcoming election will be “very hard, much harder that in 2004.” (tl/ez)