Ukrainian parliament adjourns session right after opening

Parliament speaker Vladimir Litvin had to call the adjournment because of a row between the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc /BYT/ and the Regions Party over the voting on the agenda.

In part, the Regions refused to overcome the presidential veto on changes in the articles of the state budget that deal with financing of the facilities being reconstructed or built anew in the run-up to the Euro' 2012 European Cup soccer championship.

The veto will now stay in effect until the moment the government revokes its resolution containing the list of those facilities.

The new law on presidential elections that has been endorsed by the Rada, the national parliament, reduces the duration of the election race to 90 days from 120 days.

Also, it raises the election pledge per candidate taking part in the campaign to 315,000 U.S. dollars from the current 63,000 U.S. dollars.

In addition to this, the law eliminates the absent voters ballot applications, which many voters have used for voting several times during election campaigns in the past.

President Viktor Yushchenko believes, on his part, that the law contradicts the Constitution on a number of occasions.

Ukrainians are expected to go to the polls and vote for a new President January 17, 2012; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.