KIEV, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's parliament, despite resistance from the president and opposition parties, backed a resolution Tuesday to hold plenary sessions until early parliamentary elections are held on September 30.
Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, addressing Ukrainians on the country's main TV channels Monday, said the ruling coalition, which had announced a parliamentary session, was trying to obstruct early elections. He said any decision made by parliament would be illegal, as over 150 opposition lawmakers had resigned.
A total of 264 out of 269 lawmakers present at Tuesday's session in the Supreme Rada voted in favor of the resolution.
The ruling coalition comprising the Party of Regions, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party also gathered for a session Tuesday to consider the question of canceling deputies' immunity and benefits.
Following the vote, a number of lawmakers lost several benefits, including double holiday pay, free travel, insurance, and free housing. The measures had initially been proposed by the president and his allies.
Yushchenko issued three decrees dissolving parliament in spring after 11 opposition members defected to the ruling coalition, bringing it closer to a 300-member majority able to override presidential vetoes.
The president's decrees were challenged by the Supreme Rada and eventually his longtime rival, pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, struck a deal to hold early parliamentary elections on September 30 in a bid to end months of political wrangling.
The pro-Western leader lost much of his power, including the right to name the prime minister and form a government, on January 1, 2006, when constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 to move Ukraine from a presidential-parliamentary to a parliamentary-presidential form of governance became law.
Yanukovych returned as premier after his party's landslide victory in the March 2006 parliamentary polls.
