KIEV, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's president said Saturday he will hold consultations with the leadership of the country's parliament and parliamentary factions Monday to discuss possible parliament dissolution.
"I want to say frankly that I am ready to sign a decree to dissolve parliament," Viktor Yushchenko told journalists amid mass rallies in Kiev to support and protest against parliament dissolution.
Speaking at Saturday's congress of pro-presidential party Our Ukraine, Yushchenko said that if the parliamentary coalition fails to act on a constitutional basis he will dissolve the Supreme Rada.
The Ukrainian leader proposed Friday legal liability for members of parliament who quit their factions, saying the parliamentary majority must be based exclusively on election results.
Yushchenko's initiative came amid a power struggle between the "orange" opposition and the ruling coalition in parliament, which escalated further after 11 opposition members joined the ruling coalition led by Yushchenko's arch rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, March 23.
"The head of state wants the prime minister and the government coalition to ensure the inviolability of constitutional provisions in forming the parliamentary coalition," Yushchenko's press service said Friday.
The president, who came to power on the back of the "orange revolution" in 2004, demanded Friday that he and the prime minister draft a joint address to the Constitutional Court to hold lawmakers responsible for defections.
Yushchenko said that at the beginning of the Supreme Rada's work, the parliamentary majority numbered 239 votes, but grew to 260 in eight months.
The president has not ruled out the possibility of early elections, and his secretariat has already prepared a draft decree that tentatively schedules polls for May 27. But the Supreme Rada will first have to obtain permission from the Constitutional Court to dissolve parliament.
The first deputy speaker of the Supreme Rada said Saturday that the coalition could impose a moratorium on deputies joining the parliamentary majority until the Constitutional Court makes a ruling on the issue.
"We are ready to return to the coalition containing 238 deputies and temporarily impose a moratorium on those who would like to join the coalition," Adam Martynyuk told journalists.
Parliamentary elections in Ukraine in March 2006 saw the Party of Regions come first, followed by the Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine. The Party of Regions, the Socialists and the Communists formed a majority coalition after five months of political wrangling, and elected Yanukovych prime minister in August.
The power struggle between the prime minister and the president broke out after the country was transformed from a presidential into a parliamentary republic by constitutional amendments following the "orange revolution."
