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BBC News - Dobry wieczor dla was wszystkich
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4073691.stm

Ukraine rivals 'break deadlock'

Ukraine's government and opposition say they have done a deal which will allow changes to the election law before a re-run of last month's disputed poll.
Representatives from the two sides said parliament would meet on Tuesday to approve the changes, as well as a package of political reforms.

The apparent breakthrough came as new talks began with foreign mediators.

The deal is also said to involve the dismissal of the government and changes to the Central Election Committee.


On Monday morning, Mr Kuchma said he would not dismiss the government, which lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote last week, until political reforms reducing the powers of the presidency were approved.

But hours later a senior supporter of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko said the two sides were on the verge of a deal.

Petro Poroshenko said parliament would approve reforms to the election law put forward by the opposition in order to reduce the scope for vote rigging.

In return, deputies were also expected to back constitutional changes to curb the presidency's powers, as demanded by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.

A pro-government MP Stepan Havrysh confirmed that a deal was at hand and that the government would be dismissed.

Vow to fight on

Up to now the opposition has refused to vote on presidential powers and electoral reform in the same package.

Election authorities declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of the election, but Mr Yushchenko and foreign observers said it was marred by massive fraud.

Ukraine's supreme court drew the same conclusion on Friday, and ordered a re-run of the second round.


Mr Yanukovych vowed on Monday to fight the repeat of the disputed runoff, scheduled for 26 December, saying he had come under pressure to withdraw.


He said he had the support of millions of Ukrainians and was confident of winning.

More monitors

He added that he was going to take time off from the government for the duration of the campaign.

Both Mr Yanukovych and Mr Yushchenko attended talks on Monday in Kiev, mediated by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana and the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Jan Kubis.


Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Russian envoy Boris Gryzlov were also taking part.

It is the third round of discussions between the two sides in less than a fortnight.

Foreign ministers from the 55-nation OSCE are meeting in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.

They are due to decide whether to nearly double the number of poll monitors to 1,000.


8 posted on 12/06/2004 1:30:49 PM PST by anonymoussierra
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To: anonymoussierra

Thankyou for all the information. They need all the poll monitors they can get.


14 posted on 12/06/2004 8:05:56 PM PST by potlatch (Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

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