Ukraine PM predicts long post-election talks

Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov predicted difficult talks to form a government after a weekend election and hoped liberal parties behind Ukraine's 2004 "Orange Revolution" would reconcile and patch up their coalition.

Polls for today's parliamentary race give the lead to the Regions Party of Viktor Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed rival defeated by President Viktor Yushchenko after Orange Revolution protests. The president's Our Ukraine Party, led by Yekhanurov in the election, is second, while his estranged revolution ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, lies third. Stakes have been raised by changes to the constitution empowering parliament to name a prime minister.

Yekhanurov, a technocrat who took over government last year when the "Orange" coalition shattered, discounted any suggestion the president would cut a deal with Yanukovich. He hoped to stay on once the task of coalition-building was over.

"The talks will be tough, but Our Ukraine has prepared all the necessary documents... We have consulted political forces once part of the "Orange bloc" and we are ready to resurrect the "Orange coalition," he said in an interview late on Friday.

"I believe we must be forgiving. We are all Christians and have to forgive whatever people might say in a campaign. As for the Regions Party, this issue was not considered. Our Ukraine has no plans to form a coalition with the Regions Party."

Orange ranks split last year when the president sacked Tymoshenko as prime minister after months of infighting in her ministerial team and still accuses her of lacking "team spirit".

Yanukovich says he is in contact with people in the government team "who share our views". Many commentators say the process of reconciling unwilling partners could well produce deadlock and prompt disillusion.

The president, clearly still keeping options open, has ignored Tymoshenko's call to recant any "grand coalition" deal with Yanukovich, one of several combinations under discussion. He has also left open the possibility - with 45 parties on the ballot - of dissolving parliament under the new rules if no government is formed within 60 days of the election results. Yekhanurov was confident a deal would be clinched.

Under constitutional procedures, Yekhanurov stays on during the talks.