KIEV — Ukraine's parliament loosened rules on the formation of coalitions on Tuesday, boosting new President Viktor Yanukovych's chances of securing the government he wants without resorting to a snap parliamentary vote.
The amendment, passed with 235 votes in the 450-seat assembly, opens the door for Yanukovych's Party of the Regions to poach individual members of former President Viktor Yushchenko's loose Our Ukraine alliance.
Under previous rules, deputies could only join a coalition if a majority of their party voted to join as a whole faction.
The change should allow Yanukovych's party to secure the parliamentary majority that it needs to form a new government, allowing it to move more swiftly to tackle Ukraine's deep economic problems.
Allies of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was ousted last week after losing a bitterly fought presidential runoff to Yanukovych in February, condemned the move.
"We call this a constitutional coup d'etat," said Tymoshenko lawmaker Ivan Kyrylenko, and urged Yanukovych to either seek a "real coalition" or call a snap parliamentary election.
Trying to avoid new elections, the Party of the Regions said it would waste little time after the law is signed by Yanukovych and published in the official newspaper.
"As soon as the law enters into force, we will move to form a coalition," said Party of the Regions Deputy Oleksander Yefremov.
Analysts say Mykola Azarov, a former finance minister and close Yanukovych ally, is the likely next prime minister.
Yanukovych wants a reliable partner in the government to avoid the infighting that beset the forces that emerged from the Orange Revolution, when street protests led by Tymoshenko and Yushchenko overturned Yanukovych's victory in a rigged election.
Our Ukraine, a loose grouping of more than a dozen individual parties, is split over whether to join forces with Yanukovych's party. About a dozen of its deputies are in favor, and their support would give the Party of the Regions the majority it needs in the parliament to claim a coalition and then elect a government.
Under the previous rules, a majority of the 72 Our Ukraine deputies would have to vote in favor for the faction, as a whole, to join a coalition.
Tymoshenko has refused to recognize Yanukovych's victory.
She appeared at a rally to mark the anniversary of the birth of Ukrainian national poet and hero Taras Shevchenko, telling a crowd of several thousand: "We must unite in the name of our ideals, in the name of Ukraine, because the very same forces that are puppets in foreign hands, non-Ukrainian forces, non-Ukrainian leaders, have again come to power."