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Yushchenko says will not abolish parliament early election decree

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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Sunday he will not abolish his decree to dissolve parliament and hold early parliamentary elections.
KIEV, April 8 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Sunday he will not abolish his decree to dissolve parliament and hold early parliamentary elections.

Political tensions in the ex-Soviet state intensified after 11 lawmakers defected to the ruling coalition, bringing it closer to a 300-seat constitutional majority in the 450-member Supreme Rada with the ability to override presidential vetoes. Yushchenko has since ordered the dissolution of the Supreme Rada and called early elections May 27, but lawmakers have defied the order, saying they will wait for a Constitutional Court ruling on the matter.

"Our truth is to live according to the letter and, most importantly, to the spirit of Ukraine's Constitution," Yushchenko said in a televised address to the Ukrainian people on the occasion of Easter celebration.

At the democratic parliamentary elections held in March 2006, Ukrainian citizens gave their votes for political forces they trusted and the parties elected to the parliament reflected this choice, Yushchenko said.

In the interests of people and the country, a plan of work was drafted to raise wages and social standards, improve health protection, fight crime, safeguard language rights and rebuild the national identity of the Ukrainian people, Yushchenko said.

"In the past eight months, none of the provisions of this plan has been fulfilled," Yushchenko said.

Instead, Ukraine saw constant struggle for greater power, failure to fulfill promises, and conspiracies, Yushchenko said.

"The president's duty is to halt any encroachment on the state and people. This is the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. This is the letter and spirit of my oath," Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko has pushed to integrate his country into NATO and the European Union. The Russia-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has been more cautious on the issues. The two have been locked in a struggle for power since Yanukovych's Party of Regions won the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

At the same time, Yanukovych expressed the hope Sunday that the political crisis in Ukraine would be overcome through democracy and the supremacy of law.

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