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UKRAINIAN PREMIER WANTS ACCORD TO GUARANTEE DEMOCRATIC POLLS. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych suggested in an article published in the June 30-July 6 issue of the weekly "Zerkalo nedeli" that the president, the prime minister, and leaders of parliamentary political forces sign an agreement obliging themselves to hold democratic elections in Ukraine. "Unfortunately, the amendments to the election legislation passed by the Verkhovna Rada do not solve all the problems. New political agreements, new guarantees of mutual trust are needed to hold the elections without disturbances," Yanukovych wrote. "If we fail to do this, we will head straight into crisis right after the elections," he stressed. President Viktor Yushchenko has scheduled preterm parliamentary polls for September 30. Yanukovych also noted the need to round out the reform of the political power system that was launched in December 2004 by a package of amendments to the constitution. "There is no point devising some new sort of constitutional vehicle or returning to the old model of power that an absolute majority of political forces rejected in 2004. That is unrealistic. A larger part of society will assess any attempt to cancel the constitutional reform as a return to the era of totalitarianism and will never allow that," Yanukovych wrote. JM

UKRAINIAN PREMIER WANTS ACCORD TO GUARANTEE DEMOCRATIC POLLS. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych suggested in an article published in the June 30-July 6 issue of the weekly "Zerkalo nedeli" that the president, the prime minister, and leaders of parliamentary political forces sign an agreement obliging themselves to hold democratic elections in Ukraine. "Unfortunately, the amendments to the election legislation passed by the Verkhovna Rada do not solve all the problems. New political agreements, new guarantees of mutual trust are needed to hold the elections without disturbances," Yanukovych wrote. "If we fail to do this, we will head straight into crisis right after the elections," he stressed. President Viktor Yushchenko has scheduled preterm parliamentary polls for September 30. Yanukovych also noted the need to round out the reform of the political power system that was launched in December 2004 by a package of amendments to the constitution. "There is no point devising some new sort of constitutional vehicle or returning to the old model of power that an absolute majority of political forces rejected in 2004. That is unrealistic. A larger part of society will assess any attempt to cancel the constitutional reform as a return to the era of totalitarianism and will never allow that," Yanukovych wrote. JM