President calls snap parliamentary polls

KIEV (AFP) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday called early general elections after dissolving parliament when parties failed to resurrect a ruling pro-Western coalition in the former Soviet state.

Yushchenko decreed to “set parliamentary elections for December 7, 2008,” said a statement on his official website, ending weeks of uncertainty about whether the coalition could patch up its differences.

The crisis has raised concerns in the West that pro-Moscow parties may come to power in the eastern European country of 47 million, casting doubt on Kiev’s bid to strengthen ties with Washington and Brussels.

Yushchenko said he would dissolve parliament in a televised speech late Wednesday that also included sharp words for a fellow pro-Western politician, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a former ally turned bitter arch-rival.

“I am deeply convinced that it was human ambition that destroyed the democratic coalition - one person’s ambition, lust for power, differences in values and putting personal interests ahead of national ones,” Yushchenko said, referring to Tymoshenko.