Tymoshenko's clever manoeuvring wins the day..

Tymoshenko scored another political success in the VR today by driving through early Kyiv mayoral elections.

246 deputies supported the motion; these were 155 from BYuT, 59 [out of 72] from NUNS, 6 Lytvynites, and most significantly, 26 Communists. No PoR deputies supported the motion.

Tymoshenko had threatened her party would not participate in any VR business unless their NUNS coalition partners supported them in seeking early mayoral elections in Kyiv, and hinted darkly that BYuT deputies would even block the work of parliament, if necessary. The fact that Tymoshenko resorted to veiled threats and ultimatums, indicates that she was fed up with having to make concessions to the President.

A deal was struck, and in return for NUNS' support on the Kyiv mayoral issue, BYuT supported a Presidential bill "On the Cabinet of Ministers", which restores some of the powers that had been ceded by the presidency in the last few years.

Almost a year and a half ago BYuT and PoR had voted together to reduce presidential powers, but today BYuT did a 'U-turn' and supported restoration of these powers.

Presidential secretariat head Viktor Baloha's loyalists in NUNS did not support the motion for the early mayoral elections, but surprisingly, the Communists did. Without their support the vote would have failed.

There are rumours that a deal between Yulia Tymoshenko and Communist Party of Ukraine sponsor, Russian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, had been arranged. This was the ace up her sleeve.

Although today can be considered a further victory for Tymoshenko, the new KabMin laws make her more susceptible to the whims of the president, who can now demand her sacking if he so wishes.

However, Yushchenko recently declared that the current coalition composition will work for a long period. This week the coalition pledged to approve the Tymoshenko cabinet's program, so after this, the question of her sacking will recede somewhat. But the fight over who will be the orange candidate for Kyiv's mayor will now begin..

p.s. Mykola Tomenko, the head of a temporary VR commission investigating current Kyiv mayor Chernovetskiy's allegedly corrupt activities, today stated in the VR that the current Prosecutor General's office is compromised, having accepted bribes in the form of land and apartments from Chernovetskiy. Tomenko, who is generally regarded as a 'clean', declared that because the P-G's office has been "bought off" it is unlikely to press charges against Chernovetskiy.