Ukrainian Election Negotiations Collapse

KIEV, Ukraine —  Talks between Ukraine’s two rival presidential candidates broke down Tuesday, but the arrival of a key European Union envoy offered fresh prospects that a peaceful solution to the crisis over the nation’s disputed election could be found.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met with outgoing President Leonid D. Kuchma late Tuesday before a larger round of talks today. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court and parliament prepared for further deliberations on the crisis pitting Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich against opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, each of whom claims to be the legitimate winner of the Nov. 21 presidential runoff election.

Solana, together with other European and Russian envoys, was scheduled to hold separate meetings today with Kuchma, Yushchenko and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported. There was no word on whether any meeting had been set with Yanukovich, the agency said.

Parliament was due to consider what stance it would take on the crisis. Opposition members were seeking a symbolic no-confidence vote on Yanukovich’s government. But backers of the prime minister were pressing to overturn an earlier resolution that called the official vote count -- which gave victory to Yanukovich -- invalid.

At the Supreme Court, judges will deliberate for a third day today over whether to annul the results, which Yushchenko and foreign election observers say were tainted by fraud.

The quest for a solution has raised constitutional and legal issues. If the consensus solution, for example, is some form of revote or a completely new election, it is likely that parliament would need to pass new legislation to set the rules and provide legitimacy.

Aides to Yushchenko declared Tuesday evening that they were breaking off negotiations and accused Yanukovich’s side of dealing in bad faith.

“The authorities ... used the talks to cheat,” Taras Stetskiv, a member of parliament and Yushchenko associate, told a rally in central Kiev. “We are stopping talks with the authorities. We will talk with them only from the position of people power.”

Yanukovich said he was trying to negotiate and the opposition was simply delivering ultimatums.

Yushchenko’s camp has pushed discussions on how to hold a new election, while Yanukovich has been offering concessions -- such as making Yushchenko prime minister -- designed to enable himself to assume the presidency.

“We are blamed for not wanting to continue negotiations. This is not so,” Yanukovich said in televised remarks. “Even now I’m addressing Mr. Yushchenko. I am ready to sit down at the discussion table with him, in any format, and discuss those issues both parties have.”

At the Supreme Court, Yushchenko’s legal team has pressed judges with three requests: to annul the Central Election Commission decision declaring Yanukovich the winner, to declare the Nov. 21 runoff invalid, and to name Yushchenko president on the basis of his narrow victory in the first round of balloting Oct. 31 with a field of 24 candidates.

Many observers believe that the court may grant the first two points and refuse the third. That could set the stage for new elections -- either a repeat of the runoff or an entirely new two-round election open to additional candidates. Yushchenko has supported the first alternative -- a revote match between himself and Yanukovich this month -- while Kuchma has endorsed the possibility of an entirely new election.

A poll conducted in the last week by the Razumkov Center polling agency found 48% support for Yushchenko and 36% support for Yanukovich if a repeat runoff election were held, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

The opposition, which has rallied about 100,000 supporters in central Kiev nearly every evening since the crisis began, has indicated that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Yanukovich will not end its struggle.

“If the Supreme Court makes a political decision in favor of Yanukovich ... I think the people on the squares will not disperse, and I think the political crisis will escalate to a degree where Yanukovich would not be able to rule in Ukraine,” Yulia Tymoshenko, a key opposition leader, told reporters Tuesday.

Yanukovich said Tuesday that if fraud was proved, he could go along with the idea of an entirely new election, as long as both he and Yushchenko pulled out as candidates.

Yushchenko rejected all such proposals. “I want to stress the following: The election was rigged. Unless this problem is solved, it’s too soon to resolve any other issues,” he said, adding that his supporters “do not want me to become prime minister and somebody else to become president.”

Public protests for both candidates continued Tuesday.

About 10,000 supporters of Yanukovich rallied in the central square of the eastern city of Donetsk, demanding that Kuchma hand over the presidency to him, Itar-Tass reported.

In Kiev, Yushchenko supporters kept up their demonstrations and thousands gathered around parliament. Lytvyn, the parliament speaker, warned against resorting to force to resolve the dispute and stressed that he would not allow soldiers to be stationed in the legislature despite the presence of the demonstrators outside.

“This is my issue,” he said. “I will not let any troops into parliament. Nor will force be used against civilians for as long as parliament exists.... This would mean fighting the Ukrainian people. If a drop of blood is shed, it will be impossible to stop.”

President Bush, speaking at a news conference in Ottawa, urged a return to negotiations to settle the impasse peacefully.

“It’s very important that violence not break out there,” Bush said. “And it’s important the will of the people be heard.”

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, meanwhile, spoke with both Ukrainian contenders, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

To Yanukovich, Armitage conveyed strong U.S. objections to separatist initiatives and warned against the use of force, Boucher said. With Yushchenko, Armitage spoke of the importance of “continuing the peaceful and orderly nature of the protests,” Boucher added.

Russian authorities also pressed for a peaceful solution.

During a Tuesday telephone conversation with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said that “an exit from the crisis should be found in a democratic way, that is, on the basis of observing the law and not under external or internal pressure based on political passions,” the Kremlin said in a news release.

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Times staff writer Maura Reynolds in Ottawa contributed to this report.