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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met Tuesday with his estranged Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko amid pressure to reunite their pro-Western team and keep the ex-Soviet country on their reform path.

Yushchenko also held talks with pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, who won the most votes but not a majority in weekend parliamentary elections.

Tymoshenko has said only a united front could keep Yanukovych out of power and safeguard the reform ideals championed in the "Orange Revolution." The Orange parties won more votes combined, but it remains unclear whether they will be able to overcome deep personal animosity and forge a coalition.
 
Yanukovych's Party of the Regions expanded its lead Tuesday to just over 30 percent of the vote, with more than 80 percent of ballots counted. Trailing behind was Tymoshenko's party with a strong showing of about 22.43 percent, significantly ahead of her one-time partner Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, which had just over 15 percent.

The Socialist Party, which backed the "Orange Revolution" and serves in Yushchenko's government, was in fourth place with about 6 percent of the vote. No other parties had made it over the 3 percent barrier, early election results showed.

After the talks, Yanukovych told journalists that they did not discuss a coalition, adding that his party would wait until there was a final vote count. But he insisted that as the leader of the race, his party should take responsibility for forming the coalition.

Asked by journalists if he would demand that he return to the prime minister's job which under new constitutional reforms will now be chosen by parliament Yanukovych said his "party will decide."

The one-on-one meetings, which Yushchenko's deputy spokeswoman Larisa Mudrak said took about 45 minutes, were held in the presidential administration building. Ukrainian television showed footage of Yushchenko sitting opposite Tymoshenko at a big, round table in what was their first meeting since the president sacked her from the prime minister's job six months ago.

Yushchenko's meeting with Yanukovych also revived bitter memories of the 2004 election, a hard-fought contest that deeply divided this nation of 47 million.

Tymoshenko has publicly pushed for a reunited Orange Team, calling this approach the only way to preserve the pro-Western reform ideals that formed the basis of the 2004 election protest triggered by Yanukovych's alleged ballot-stuffing attempt to win the presidency.

She kept up the pressure on Yushchenko after the meeting, telling journalists that she and the president "have a common vision for Ukraine's future and for the future coalition."

Tymoshenko, who wants the prime minister's job back, predicted that a coalition deal could be signed within a week, saying that she was confident "that a democratic coalition will be born."

But Yushchenko's office put out a statement that called Tuesday's consultations "preliminary," and emphasized the importance of consolidating Ukrainian society.

Many analysts have suggested that Yushchenko might try to sell the nation a union with Yanukovych as an effort to bridge deep divisions. Yanukovych's party dominates in the Russian-speaking east, while the Orange Team rules in the Ukrainian-speaking west and center.

(China Daily March 29, 2006)