"I believe a dialog with each side is my most effective assistance to the sides holding negotiations on the coalition," Viktor Yushchenko said.
He said the sides, the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party, former prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko's bloc and the Socialist Party, had already made the first step toward the coalition's formation and signed a memorandum Thursday but urged them to be consistent.
The memorandum consists of three parts - fundamental elements of the coalition's activities, regulations and the distribution of responsibilities among coalition members.
Yushchenko said the next move would be the drafting of a political agreement to give response to the most serious challenges, which could emerge as soon as the coalition started working.
He added that the coalition would have only 243 votes in the 450-seat Supreme Rada.
Therefore, the coalition needs a delicate approach to such disputable issues as the formation of the land market, Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization, Common Economic Space (with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan), NATO and the European Union, and constitutional reform.
Yushchenko said the next stage would be the ratification of the political agreement.
The final agreement on the formation of the parliamentary majority is expected to be signed on the first working day of the country's parliament, the Supreme Rada.
The Ukrainian Constitution states that the Supreme Rada must form a coalition within 30 days of the new parliament starting work, and appoint a new government in the following 30 days. If the timeframe is not met, the president can dissolve parliament and hold new elections
Tymoshenko, whose bloc finished second in the March 26 ballot with 22.29% of the vote (129 seats), had earlier proposed to form a pro-presidential parliamentary coalition that would form the government, and said she would only join a coalition if she was re-appointed prime minister.
