KIEV, Sept. 15 – Parliament must within one month approve new bills to govern the next presidential election to avoid complications that may disrupt the vote, a top official at President Viktor Yushchenko’s office said Tuesday.

Yushchenko on Monday appealed to the Constitutional Court the controversial legislation that had been approved last month, de-facto favoring two main candidates: Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Should the court reject the legislation - a scenario that many analysts believe is realistic - “the legislation will not have legal consequences,” Ihor Popov, deputy chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said in a television interview.

If the presidential election, due on Jan. 17, 2010, is disrupted, Yushchenko will continue to run the country until Parliament sets a new election date and that may take between three and six months.

The comment shows there is a potential for a major political standoff in Ukraine, further complicating political situation that has been already worsening economic crisis.

To prevent the worst-case scenario, lawmakers must quickly approve bills that will govern the next presidential election without controversial issues that Yushchenko opposes, Popov said.

“Parts of the legislation must be changed before” the start of the presidential campaign on October 19, 2009, Popov said, suggesting that lawmakers debate and approve the new bills in parallel with the Constitutional Court.

“If the court ruled by October 14, then, theoretically, Parliament should approve the changes by October 19, and the president will sign them,” Popov said.

Yushchenko earlier this year prevailed over Tymoshenko and Yanukovych in a Constitutional Court battle earlier this year.

Tymoshenko and Yanukovych sought o set the date of the presidential election on November 24, or three month earlier than the regular schedule, but Yushchenko had appealed the bill.

This eventually forced lawmakers to approve the January 17, 2010, the date that Yushchenko had insisted is constitutional.

The controversial legislation was twice rejected by Yushchenko, but has been eventually signed by Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

Lytvyn said that he was “convinced” that the Constitutional Court will reject parts of the legislation, which can make the election “disorganized.”

The legislation gives Tymoshenko and Yanukovych parties – as opposed to public organizations - more power in crucial issues, such as vote counting.

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

The legislation is a major setback for Arseniy Yatseniuk, a popular former speaker of Parliament and a potential presidential candidate, who does not have a strong party backing him, unlike Tymoshenko and Yanukovych. (tl/ez)