Ukraine Approves Prime Minister

Parliament on Thursday approved President Viktor Yushchenko's choice for prime minister in his second attempt, but the victory came at the cost of forging an awkward pact with a political foe he defeated in last year's bitterly contested election.

The lawmakers, who rejected Yuriy Yekhanurov on Tuesday, this time gave him 289 votes - well above the 226 he needed.

The extra backing came after Yushchenko signed a formal truce with the Party of the Regions, led by losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych. That support helped Yushchenko offset the defection of some of his Orange Revolution allies after the ouster of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

With only six months until key parliamentary elections, the move puts Yushchenko in the uncomfortable position of having to justify his truce with the political forces he opposed last year.

"It's time to bury the war hatchet and to forget where it lies," Yushchenko said before the vote. Later, he said a "unique understanding" had been found.

After the vote, deputies applauded as Yushchenko warmly hugged Yekhanurov.

Yekhanurov, a Russian-born former governor from eastern Ukraine, said he would unveil his Cabinet next week. He said at least a third of his appointments would be technocrats with no relation to politics.

The deal was tailored to give greater rights to the opposition and pushes forward implementation of reforms that would strip the president of most of his powers in favor of parliament. It also gives more power to local authorities, including immunity from prosecution for deputies in regional parliaments.

Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshenko and her government Sept. 8 as his circle of Orange Revolution allies who brought him to power disintegrated amid mutual allegations of corruption and infighting.

The dismissal left him politically vulnerable in a parliament still dominated by communists and his former foes. The opposition has grown even larger, with the addition of Tymoshenko's 41-member faction and smaller groups of lawmakers who also have expressed their loyalty to her.

After Yekhanurov's initial rejection, Tymoshenko had pleaded to return as prime minister. Yushchenko, however, stuck by his initial choice of Yekhanurov, an economist and moderate seen as politically neutral.

The second vote came after a series of consultations between Yushchenko and parliamentary faction leaders. Yanukovych's Party of the Regions, which abstained in Tuesday's balloting, gave Yekhanurov 50 votes, enough to push him comfortably over the limit.

It appeared Yekhanurov would have been approved Thursday even without Yanukovych's support, but it gave Yushchenko's choice the critical mass he needed.

When Tymoshenko was approved as prime minister after the opposition's triumph last year, she won a record-breaking 373 votes. For many Ukrainians, she symbolized the Orange Revolution, being a charismatic orator with charm and trademark hairstyle that expressed her nationalist pride.

Last year's presidential battle culminated in mass protests by Yushchenko's orange-clad supporters and the Supreme Court's decision to invalidate Yanukovych's fraudulent election victory.

"Today's decision demonstrated that dialogue has been initiated - this is the most important thing," said Lyudmila Kyrychenko, a lawmaker with the Party of the Regions.

But some lawmakers have complained that Yekhanurov would lead an ineffective, caretaker government heading into parliamentary elections that could redraw Ukraine's political landscape.