KIEV—Ukraine's new post-election parliament opens on Friday, with uncertainty lingering over virtually all key decisions, including formation of a majority coalition and government after three years of instability.
Two parties linked to "Orange Revolution" protests that swept President Viktor Yushchenko to power in 2004—the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party and the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc—won a tiny majority in the September election.
They have agreed in principle to form a coalition under firebrand Yulia Tymoshenko to promote the pro-Western ideals of that upheaval. But there are suggestions that an "orange" coalition may never take shape or stumble and collapse.
Analysts say the president, who appointed Tymoshenko his first prime minister in 2005 only to fire her within eight months, is reluctant to have her again in charge of government.
Some say he might prefer to have his allies join his arch-rival, outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich—whose Regions Party is parliament's biggest group but so far cannot form a coalition. "The president's relations with Tymoshenko were always quite difficult," said analyst Alexander Lytvynenko of the Razumkov centre think tank. "Tymoshenko's new candidature for prime minister is apparently not the president's preferred option."
Fractious
Ukraine's post-Soviet parliament has earned a reputation for being fractious and unpredictable. After Yanukovich, the Revolution's big loser, staged a comeback to take first place in an election last year, it took four months to form a government.
Under the constitution, the chamber must form a majority coalition within 30 days and a government in a further 30 days.
Ukrainian public opinion has become wary of promises of change and the euphoria of the "orange" protests is long gone.
Only a few hundred activists gathered on Thursday in Independence Square, the Revolution's focal point, to mark "Freedom Day" -- the third anniversary of the start of the protests against election fraud.
Yushchenko met elected members from his Our Ukraine party and said it was up to them to work for unity among liberals.
"The theme of unity is the top priority," his press service quoted him as saying. "Let us not repeat the mistakes we committed before."
Advocates of the revolution, disillusioned by the president's dismissal of Tymoshenko in 2005, were heartened by their public display of unity during the September campaign.
And on Thursday, the two "orange" parties backed an ally of the president to become parliament's speaker, suggesting their alliance might still prove strong enough to form a government.
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