Kiev, Ukraine
Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovich, has defied President Viktor Yushchenko’s order to dissolve the parliament. Yushchenko, the pro-Western leader who was elected after the 2004 Orange Revolution, gave the order just a week after several deputies from his Our Ukraine party defected to Yanukovich’s pro-Russian ruling coalition. More defections would have given the coalition a veto-proof majority, so Yushchenko called for new elections. The prime minister said the president’s decree amounted to “an attempted coup,” and it’s unclear whether it is legal. Since the Constitutional Court could take months to rule on the issue, the matter could end up being settled in the streets. Thousands of demonstrators on both sides are already protesting in Kiev.
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