April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved parliament to derail the premier's effort to oust him by luring enough opposition lawmakers to coalition parties for a no-confidence vote.

``I dissolve the parliament, not because it's my right but because it's required,'' Yushchenko said today in Kiev after a seven-hour meeting with the parliamentary speaker and leaders of parliamentary groups. ``The current parliament is breaking the constitution and it threatens our country's future.''

Early elections will be held within two months. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych will remain the head of the Cabinet until elections are held and a new government is formed.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych, foes since the 2004 Orange Revolution, are locked in dispute over the former Soviet republic's foreign and economic policies, leaving the political system in a stalemate. Yushchenko wants to move the country closer to the European Union and NATO, while Yanukovych presses for stronger ties to Russia in the east.

Yushchenko, a former central banker whose policies were praised by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on March 29 threatened to dismiss the parliament because some opposition lawmakers, including ones from his party, joined the ruling coalition.

Yanukovych has been drawing support to his coalition parties to garner enough votes to oust Yushchenko, even though legislators are barred by law from switching parties and keeping their assembly seats because they are assigned based on party results, not individuals.

Feud

The feud began when Yanukovych's October 2004 victory over Yushchenko sparked the Orange Revolution, a two-month-long series of demonstrations that drew more than a million people into the streets across the country. A court eventually ruled the election was riddled with fraud and annulled it. Yushchenko won the presidency in the rerun poll, taking office in January 2005.

Last August, Yanukovych's Regions of Ukraine party won the most votes in general elections, giving him control of 238 seats in the 450-member parliament, rocketing him to the premiership and giving him a platform to fight Yushchenko's policies. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine went into opposition.

Yanukovych's coalition government also includes the Communist and Socialist parties.

Russian Support

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who personally endorsed Yanukovych for the president, is to Yushchenko's NATO aspirations. Yanukovych, backed by Russian-speakers in the south and east of the country, said during a September visit to Brussels that Ukraine would suspend efforts to join NATO, because ``only few Ukrainians support it.''

He also pushed laws that have curtailed the president's powers and has drawn enough legislators from opposition parties to control 260 seats. Yanukovych has been working to wrest control of 300 seats, giving him the two-thirds support to override any presidential veto and eventually oust the president.

Yulia Timoshenko, another opposition leader, accused Yanukovych on March 19 of offering $3 million to $7 million to lawmakers to leave the opposition and join the coalition. Yanukovych denied the accusation.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of Ukrainians participated in competing rallies organized by Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and Yanukovych Regions of Ukraine.

Weekend Rallies

More than 27,000 people gathered on Kiev's central square on Saturday, indicating their displeasure with the government and the legislature and demanding early parliamentary elections, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

A pro-Yanukovych rally drew about 30,000 people to a nearby plaza, according to the ministry. Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko was appointed by Yanukovych.

The parties of Yushchenko and Timoshenko would be backed by 26.4 percent of voters if an election was held now, according to Feb. 22- March 3 survey of 2,012 people by the Kiev-based Razumko Center for Economy and Politics Studies. The poll had a margin of error of 2.3 percent.

Yanukovych's party, socialists and communists would be supported by 27.4 percent of voters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 2, 2007 14:23 EDT