Calls for rally in Ukraine

Politicians who supported President Viktor Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution appealed to Ukrainians to return to Kiev’s Independence Square today for a rally.

The organisers say the action is necessary to finish what they started during the 2004 mass protests.

Yushchenko’s rival – Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych – was also summoning supporters to pressure the president to step back from his threat to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The competing rallies come as Yushchenko weighs what could be the most important decision of his presidency.

Calling early elections could plunge Ukraine into political chaos, and revive the east-west divisions that threatened to split the ex-Soviet republic during the Orange Revolution. Backing down could make Yushchenko politically irrelevant, significantly strengthen Yanukovych’s hand and isolate the president from his former allies.

The standoff arose after a group of politicians allied with the president defected and crossed over into Yanukovych’s coalition, in violation of a new law that compels politicians to remain with the party they were elected with.