Will President Viktor Yushchenko's decree to dissolve parliament and hold elections be the climax of the country's crisis?On 3 April President Viktor Yushchenko published a decree dissolving parliament and setting new parliamentary elections for 27 May. The decree comes on the heels of a protracted and bitter conflict with Viktor Yanukovych, whom Yushchenko himself had nominated to the post of prime minister exactly eight months earlier. The conflict lies at the heart of the reasons why Yushchenko has dissolved parliament, and although the standoff that ensued may end soon, the final outcome is far from certain.
When Yushchenko nominated Yanukovych for the post of prime minister last August he did so under pressure from a majority "anti-crisis coalition" formed in parliament by Yanukovych�s Party of the Regions and the Communist and Socialist parties after months of political bargaining. Yet the presidential administration had made it clear at that time that the president�s decision was voluntary, that the constitution did not mandate nominating the candidate put forth by a majority parliamentary coalition. Some, such as Yushchenko�s former principal ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, urged him to dissolve parliament right away instead, paving the way for new elections. Tymoshenko has long warned of the power of the Donetsk "clan," or financial-industrial grouping, headed by Yanukovych and Ukraine�s richest man, Renat Akhmetov.
In the summer of 2006 it seemed obvious to many, if not to Yushchenko himself, that there would be no peace between him and Yanukovych, his former opponent during the 2004 presidential race that ballooned into the Orange Revolution. Yanukovych represents the political and business elite of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which is largely pro-Russian, distrustful of the West and nostalgic for the Soviet era. Yushchenko�s support, on the other hand, is strongest in western Ukraine and his policies are aimed at Ukraine�s speedy integration into the European Union and NATO.
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