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UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WARNS PARLIAMENT AGAINST STOPPING WORK. Leonid Kuchma on 3 October said he will most likely veto the parliamentary election bill passed by parliament last month, Interfax reported. The president said he has a number of objections to the bill, including to the provision that extends the campaign time frame for elections slated for next March to six months. "Parliament will not be working for as long as six months. What shall we do again with the Tax Code, the Land Code, [the law on] the judicial system, and so on? I want to reiterate that if the Tax Code is not adopted this year or we try to introduce it in the second half of next year, this parliament must be held responsible for Ukraine's economy, for the negative consequences," New Channel television quoted Kuchma as saying. JM

UKRAINIAN PREMIER GIVES UP PARLIAMENTARY MANDATE. Anatoliy Kinakh has requested the parliament to relieve him of legislative duties as required by the constitution from lawmakers who choose to work in the government, Interfax reported on 3 October. Asked why he waited so long with this request (Kinakh was appointed prime minister on 29 May), the premier said that earlier he did not want to divert the parliament's attention from passing a bill on the cabinet of ministers. Parliamentary speaker Ivan Plyushch recently filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv City Court against 10 government officials who have not given up their parliamentary mandates (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 October 2001). JM

POWER TO TELEVISION, RADIO NETWORKS CUT IN WESTERN UKRAINE. The UT-1 national television network, the radio station Promin, and the Ukrainian radio Channel-1 were not broadcast for a second day throughout the Lviv region, New Channel television reported on 3 October. The local energy company warned that if the Lviv transmission center does not repay its overdue debt, all of the other television and radio channels that broadcast via that center will also have their electricity supplies cut. JM

FOUR PRO-KUCHMA PARTIES FORM ELECTION BLOC. Four Ukrainian propresidential parties -- the Popular Democratic Party, the Party of Regions, the Agrarian Party, and Labor Ukraine -- said on 4 October that they are beginning the creation of an election bloc named For a United Ukraine, Interfax reported. JM