Yanukovych Survives No Confidence Vote

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the declared winner of Ukraine’s disputed presidential elections, and his government survived a parliamentary motion of no confidence on Tuesday. The resolution was not supported by the communist party and received only 196 votes, short of the 226 votes needed in the 450-member assembly to be approved.

Ukraine has been gripped by a political crisis since the disputed Nov. 21 elections, in which pro-Russia Yanukovych was declared the winner. Western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has refused to accept the results, charging there was widespread ballot fraud.

The parliamentary motion had called for the sacking of the government, the prosecutor general, and the governors of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Yanukovych's strongholds.

Ballot fraud allegations have focused on the two Yanukovych bastions, which have also been at the forefront of threats by Ukraine's eastern and southern Russian-speaking regions to seek autonomy from Kiev.

Debate set for second hearing

The parliament ended its meeting Tuesday without adopting a no-confidence motion. But speaker Volodymyr Litvin told lawmakers they would resume debate Wednesday on a "well formulated and agreed text."

Addressing lawmakers, Yushchenko said the government should resign for rigging the vote in the disputed election. "The government must resign for these actions made in the east, for its handling of the budget, for the falsifications during the election," said Yushchenko.

Talk of separatism quashed

Earlier in the day, the on-going crisis had prompted the country’s central government to quash talk of separatism in the Russian-speaking east of the country, as Ukraine remained deadlocked over the disputed elections as compromise proposals failed to gain any apparent traction.

As the state's judicial and legislative branches continued to deliberate on the pro-Western opposition charges that the elections were rigged, Yanukovych floated two proposals for resolving the nine-day-old crisis.

Firstly, he said if his preliminary victory were upheld he would offer the post of prime minister to Yushchenko. And secondly, if the Nov. 21 ballot were ruled too flawed to stand, he would support a repeat election, provided neither he nor Yushchenko were candidates again.

Both overtures were swiftly rejected by Yushchenko. "No, I cannot accept these proposals," Yushchenko told reporters, without elaborating.

EU's Solana heads back to Kiev

As the deadlock continued, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana headed back to Ukraine on Tuesday in another attempt at mediation just days after his first visit on Friday, the EU's Dutch presidency said. Solana will consult in Kiev with all sides before heading to Moscow, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot told reporters.

"What we think is necessary would be to have a re-run of the elections," Bot reaffirmed. “Mr. Solana is on his way now to discuss with all the parties concerned. This (a re-run) is one of the possibilities. We have to wait of course for the verdict of the Supreme Court," he added.

"He's traveling to Kiev, and then afterwards he's going to Moscow. We are doing our utmost to see to it that the situation returns to normal as quickly as possible."