Yushchenko, Party Leaders in Talks

The heads of parliament’s five factions met with President Viktor Yushchenko today to negotiate an end to the opposition blockade of parliament, which has been holding up the formation of a new government. Yosyp Vinsky, a Socialist leader, said the majority coalition would take steps to break the blockade if a deal was not reached in two-three days. Tom Warner: It’s likely the Regions and Communist parties will eventually come away with some of parliament’s committee chairmanships, which have traditionally been shared among all parliamentary parties. The opposition is also likely to get its demand that the speaker be elected by separate secret ballot, rather than in an open vote and together with the confirmation of the prime minister, as Yulia Tymoshenko wanted.