KIEV, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's parliament approved on Wednesday the resignation of pro-presidential Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a move that analysts say could pave the way for the dismissal of the prime minister and her cabinet.
Yatsenyuk tendered his resignation in September after the pro-Western coalition of President Viktor Yushchenko's party and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc collapsed. The speaker and premier were to resign under a coalition agreement. However, both continued work after Tymoshenko refused to quit.
Wednesday's vote was proposed by the opposition Party of Regions, led by ex-premier Viktor Yanukovych. In two previous votes on Yatsenyuk's resignation, the legislature had failed to secure enough support.
The vote has prompted talk in the Supreme Rada that the president's Our Ukraine and the Party of Regions could form a new ruling coalition, thereby avoiding early polls.
Speculation has also been fueled by Yushchenko's statement in Poland on Tuesday that early elections he had set for December should be delayed until next year. "There is no point in holding elections during the holidays at the end of the year," Yushchenko said, as quoted by Ukrainian media.
A senior Party of Regions member said recently that, "Early polls would harm the country given the current economic situation," and proposed creating a coalition based on Yanukovych's party.
The two political camps - bitter rivals in the 2004 "orange revolution" that brought Yushchenko to power and in the political battles that have plagued the country ever since - had both earlier pushed for polls. Tymoshenko has been opposed to them and the expenses that they would involve.
Neither the president, nor Yanukovych have confirmed any coalition plans.
However, Tymoshenko, once the president's closest ally, blasted the Rada vote on Wednesday, saying that Yushchenko was clearing the way for early elections.
"Yatsenyuk's removal is in effect a desire to drive the last nail [into the coffin] of the democratic camp that is working in the Supreme Rada today, to bury hope for the democratic coalition's revival," the premier said.
President Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshnko's accusations and said he was against Yatsenyuk's removal.
"The decision [to remove Yatsenyuk] is in opposition to stability," the president told a news conference.
Yatsenyuk told a news briefing on Wednesday he planned to set up a new political party to promote change in the country.
