One year after Ukrainians elected a new Rada (parliament), a struggle for power grips the country and has escalated into a full-blown political crisis. On one side of the fight is President Victor Yushchenko, supported by key parliamentary opposition leader Yuliya Tymoshenko. On the other side are Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych and the majority coalition in the Rada. On April 2, Yushchenko issued a decree dissolving the Rada and scheduling new elections for May 27. The majority in the Rada (led by Yanukovych’s Regions Party) immediately rejected the decree as unconstitutional and said that it would continue to work. The sides are digging in, and the question is almost certainly headed for the Constitutional Court.
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