President of Ukraine insists on right to disband parliament

Leonid Kuchma, head of the Ukrainian state, is not against the introduction into the country's legislation of norms of presidential impeachment. He specified at the same time that along with the impeachment norms, mechanisms allowing the president, under certain circumstances, to disband parliament should also be laid down in legislation. Leonid Kuchma said this in the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday presenting the annual message grandly titled "The European Choice." The President called upon the deputies to work jointly. He said that one of the main tasks is the need to create a permanent parliamentary majority based on a clear-cut political platform.

When the President delivered his speech the deputies of the faction of the Socialist party of Ukraine and Yulia Timoshenko's Bloc who accuse Kuchma of many abuses in the post of head of state, demonstratively walked out of the hall.