Ukraine Prez Calls Snap Vote

The president of Ukraine dissolved parliament yesterday and called a snap election, the third in less than three years for the former Soviet republic, reports the New York Times. Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western leader who came to power in 2004, said that his former ally, prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, had put personal gain ahead of the country's interest. The Dec. 7 vote promises further upheaval in a country suffering an already severe economic downturn.

"I am deeply convinced that the democratic coalition was ruined by one thing—the ambition of one person, the hunger for power," Yushchenko said in a televised address. Last month his party pulled out of Tymoshenko's coalition after she allied with the pro-Russian opposition to curb Yushchenko's powers. The PM said that early elections were unconstitutional and an effort to block her own rise to the presidency in 2010.
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