Yulia Tymoshenko ready to pull out of Ukraine presidential polls
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that she is ready to back out of running in the presidential elections.
Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko said earlier in the day he intends to run in the elections, to be held in the winter 2009-2010.
"I am ready to give way once again to support a single candidate [from the democratic forces] during the presidential elections, if it is possible to achieve normal, balanced work, if the government faces no o
Ads
bstacles," Tymoshenko said.
The Ukrainian president accused Tymoshenko Wednesday along with opposition parties of attempting a constitutional coup and threatened to dissolve parliament if a new coalition was not formed.
The latest crisis started when lawmakers from the pro-Russian opposition, the Party of Regions and the Communist Party, backed by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, voted to reduce the president's powers amid a growing government power struggle.
Relations between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko have become strained recently after the prime minister failed to condemn Russia's actions in the conflict in South Ossetia, and back the president in his support for Georgia.
The premier, who was accused by the president of "treason and political corruption," was widely expected to run against Yushchenko at the next presidential election.
According to Ukrainian popularity polls, Tymoshenko currently enjoys at least 25% of voter support. Leader of the oppositional Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych is trailing with 20%.
President Viktor Yushchenko's popularity rating has plummeted to a mere 6%.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that she is ready to back out of running in the presidential elections.
